Get value of an attribute from xml for multiple occurrences using xmllint

Question

I want to get value of conn of abc whose name is 3 i.e conn3

<abc name="1">
    <properties conn="conn1"/>
</abc>
<abc name="2">
    <properties conn="conn2"/>
</abc>
<abc name="3">
    <properties conn="conn3"/>
</abc>

currently i am doing

echo 'cat //abc/properties/@conn' | xmllint --shell "test.xml"

but it is returning conn1,conn2,conn3

I am trying with

echo 'cat //abc[@name='1']/properties/@conn' | xmllint --shell "test.xml"

but it is not returning anything

Can you please suggest where i am doing wrong. Note:Xpath not supported

Given that XML (and wrapping it in a <root> element to make it valid), your second command works for me. I guess what you have is something different? — Tom Fenech
– Tom Fenech, Commented Aug 10, 2015 at 14:10
Works for me, too. Although if you don't have the --xpath option, I wonder if your xmllint is old and doesn't support the particular query you're using... — larsks
– larsks, Commented Aug 10, 2015 at 14:11
What is the expected output, exactly? Related for siblings: stackoverflow.com/questions/26823736/… — Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com
– Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com, Commented Nov 19, 2015 at 5:26

ggorlen · Accepted Answer · 2020-11-15 03:39:54Z

1

Finally issue was with single inverted comma(') below command worked for me. I don't know the reason, came to know by hit and try :)

Please comment if you know the reason behind it.

echo 'cat //abc[@name="1"]/properties/@conn' | xmllint --shell "test.xml"

Note: Above mentioned XML is only sample actual XML where I want to run is complex structure.

edited Nov 15, 2020 at 3:39

ggorlen

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answered Aug 11, 2015 at 14:06

user2387280

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Comments

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:18:04Z

0

Just use xmllint normally, without pipes:

$ xmllint --xpath 'string(//abc[@name='1']/properties/@conn)' xml_file
conn1

See string() is used to get the value of an attribute, as described in Getting attribute using XPath.

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:18

CommunityBot

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answered Aug 10, 2015 at 14:15

fedorqui

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3 Comments

user2387280 Over a year ago

Hi, --xpath not supported :(

fedorqui Over a year ago

What does your xmllint --version return? Mine xmllint: using libxml version 20901.

user2387280 Over a year ago

xmllint: using libxml version 20706 I am using linux box xmllint --xpath Unknown option --xpath Usage : xmllint [options] XMLfiles .

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