How to parse a XML file with Command Line (cmd/batch)

Question

I have a XML file Testing.Config with the following content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<connectionStrings>
    <add name="name1" connectionString="user id=id1;password=password1;"/>
    <add name="name2" connectionString="user id=id2;password=password2;"/>
    <add name="name3" connectionString="user id=id3;password=password3;"/>
</connectionStrings>

I need parse this file and obtain id and password key-value pairs in an attribute of a particular tag identified by the provided attribute, for example "name=name1".

Example

Input:

 name=name1

Returns:

 id=id1
 password=password1

Almost every version of windows has powershell.. consider doing it in powershell instead? — Vikas Gupta
– Vikas Gupta, Commented Dec 4, 2014 at 1:18

npocmaka · Accepted Answer · 2017-02-07 14:57:52Z

4

@echo off

set "xml_file=test.xml"
set /p search_for=Enter name:

for /f "skip=2 tokens=3,9 delims=;= " %%a in ('find """%search_for%""" "%xml_file%"') do (

    set "name=%%~a"
    set "pass=%%b"
)

echo name : %name%
echo pass : %pass%

If all connectionStrings are on separated lines and every string is on one line.Change the location of the xml_file

You can also try the xpath.bat (better option according to me) -small script that will allow you to get a xml values by xpath expression without using external binaries:

call xpath.bat connection.xml "//add[@name = 'name1']/@connectionString"

edited Feb 7, 2017 at 14:57

answered Dec 3, 2014 at 23:07

npocmaka

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2 Comments

hdmq Over a year ago

Is exactly what I wanted... Only a change: tokens=3,9 It should be: tokens=7,9 Because I need the value of ID Thank you!!!

hdmq Over a year ago

Change: set /p search_for=Enter name:, by set /p "search_for=Enter name:". And """%search_for%""", by "%search_for%"

Vikas Gupta · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-04 21:45:44Z

1

Since you indicated (in comments on the question) that powershell is also okay, put the following code in a script file (lets say Foo.ps1)

param
(
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
    [string] $ConfigFilePath,

    [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
    [string] $Name
)

([xml](Get-Content -LiteralPath $ConfigFilePath)).connectionStrings.add |
Where-Object {$_.name -eq $name} |
ForEach-Object {($_.connectionString -split ' ')[1] -split ';'}

and then run the script with parameters to get the output.

answered Dec 4, 2014 at 21:45

Vikas Gupta

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Comments

Gible Fog · Accepted Answer · 2022-08-24 05:52:11Z

In case someone comes looking for this like I did... the xpath.bat linked by npocmaka works great, but not for file one network paths e.g. \server\foo\bar.xml. And I couldn't get Vikus's PS script to work for attributes. So... I managed to turn Vikus's PS into this:

param
(
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
    [string] $XMLFile,
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
    [string] $Xpath
)
[xml]$xml = Get-Content -Path $XMLFile
$value = Select-XML -xml $xml -xpath $Xpath
$value.ToString()

Which I then collapsed to this for use in a .cmd file:

set psc="(Select-XML -xml ([xml](Get-Content -Path %xmlfile%)) -xpath %xpath%).ToString()"
for /f %%a in ('powershell %psc%') do set myvar=%%a

Though it's worth noting that neither %xmlfile% nor %xpath% can have spaces. That requires escaping all the parentheses so that the powershell command doesn't have to be wrapped in double quotes:

for /F %a in ('powershell ^(Select-XML -xml ^([xml]^(Get-Content -Path "test.xml"^)^) -xpath "/Computers/Computer/Name/@id"^).ToString^(^)') do @echo %a

FWIW, they're all markedly slower that my original fragile monster:

@for /F eol^=^#^tokens^=2^,5^,7^ delims^=^<^>^" %%i in (%xmlfile%) do @(
    @if "%targetnodename% ATTR1=" == "%%i" (
        set myvar1=%%j
        set myvar1=%%k
    )
)

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