jq for XML in Shell-Bash

Introduction

jq is a command-line tool that is used to process and manipulate JSON data in Unix-like systems. However, did you know that you can also use jq to manipulate XML data? This is made possible by the xml module, which provides a way to parse and manipulate XML data using the jq syntax.

In this article, we will explore the jq XML module and learn how to use it in Shell-Bash programming.

Installing jq

To use jq with XML, you need to first install it on your system. jq is available for most Unix-like systems, including Linux, macOS, and Windows. You can download the latest version of jq from here.

Basic Usage

To use jq with XML, you need to specify the xml module using the -M option. Here's an example:

$ cat example.xml | jq -M '.'

This command reads the contents of example.xml file and passes it to jq. The . is the root object, which means we will get the entire XML data as output.

Extracting XML Elements

You can use the xml module to extract specific elements from an XML document. Here's an example:

$ cat example.xml | jq -M '.root.child'

This command extracts the child element from the root element.

Filtering XML Elements

You can also filter XML elements based on certain criteria. Here's an example:

$ cat example.xml | jq -M '.root.child[] | select(.attribute == "value")'

This command filters the child element that has an attribute with the value of 'value'.

Modifying XML Elements

You can modify XML elements using the xml module. Here's an example:

$ cat example.xml | jq -M '.root.child[] |= . + {"new_element": "new_value"}'

This command adds a new element with the name of 'new_element' and the value of 'new_value' to all the child elements.

Conclusion

In this article, we learned how to use jq with XML data in Shell-Bash programming. We explored some basic usage examples, including extracting, filtering, and modifying XML elements using the xml module. With practice, you can use jq to manipulate XML data efficiently and easily.