How to delete attributes in an xml file by using a linux command (example sed)

Question

I have the following xml file. I want to edit it by removing the url and title attributes from every element <doc></doc>. I am looking for a unix command that can help instead of writing a whole code.

<documents>
<doc id="852" url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=852" title="...">
<text>
 Some text...
</text>
</doc>

<doc id="853" url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=853" title="...">
<text>
 Some text...
</text>
</doc>

<doc id="854" url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=854" title="...">
<text>
 some text...
</text>
</doc>

</documents>

I'm thinking sed could do this.

javabrett
– javabrett

2015-07-29 14:22:54 +00:00
Commented Jul 29, 2015 at 14:22 — javabrett
– javabrett, Commented Jul 29, 2015 at 14:22

Micah Elliott · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-29 14:10:40Z

3

If the xML is as consistent as this, a simple example that could work is:

sed -r 's/^(<doc .* )url=".*/\1>/' myfile.xml

That says to identify lines that start with a <doc tag, save the contents up to url, discarding the rest of the line, and re-closing with a new >.

You could get more careful with the regex, but sed is a good tool for this, IF the XML is totally predictable.

If you want to change the file in-place, add a -i to the sed invocation.

answered Jul 29, 2015 at 14:10

Micah Elliott

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