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Mini-XML - Tiny XML Parsing Library v4
======================================
[](https://scan.coverity.com/projects/michaelrsweet-mxml)
Mini-XML is a small XML parsing library that you can use to read XML data files
or strings in your application without requiring large non-standard libraries.
Mini-XML only requires a "make" program and a C99 compatible compiler - GCC
works, as do most vendors' C compilers.
Mini-XML provides the following functionality:
- Reading of UTF-8 and UTF-16 and writing of UTF-8 encoded XML files and
strings.
- Data is stored in a linked-list tree structure, preserving the XML data
hierarchy.
- SAX (streamed) reading of XML files and strings to minimize memory usage.
- Supports arbitrary element names, attributes, and attribute values with no
preset limits, just available memory.
- Supports integer, real, opaque, text, and custom data types in "leaf" nodes.
- Functions for creating and managing trees of data.
- "Find" and "walk" functions for easily locating and navigating trees of data.
- Support for custom string memory management functions to implement string
pools and other schemes for reducing memory usage.
Mini-XML doesn't do validation or other types of processing on the data
based upon schema files or other sources of definition information.
Building Mini-XML
-----------------
Mini-XML comes with an autoconf-based configure script; just type the
following command to get things going:
./configure
The default install prefix is `/usr/local`, which can be overridden using the
`--prefix` option:
./configure --prefix=/foo
Other configure options can be found using the `--help` option:
./configure --help
Once you have configured the software, type `make` to do the build and run
the test program to verify that things are working, as follows:
make
If you are using Mini-XML under Microsoft Windows with Visual C++, use the
included project files in the `vcnet` subdirectory to build the library
instead. Note: The static library on Windows is NOT thread-safe.
Installing Mini-XML
-------------------
The `install` target will install Mini-XML in the lib and include
directories:
sudo make install
Once you have installed it, use the `-lmxml` option to link your application
against it.
Documentation
-------------
The documentation is available in the `doc` subdirectory in the files
`mxml.html` (HTML) and `mxml.epub` (EPUB). You can also look at the
`testmxml.c` source file for examples of using Mini-XML.
Mini-XML provides a single header file which you include:
#include <mxml.h>
Nodes (elements, comments, declarations, integers, opaque strings, processing
instructions, real numbers, and text strings) are represented by `mxml_node_t`
pointers. New nodes can be created using the mxmlNewXxx functions. The top
node must be the `<?xml ...?>` processing instruction.
You load an XML file using the mxmlLoadFilename function:
mxml_node_t *tree;
tree = mxmlLoadFilename(/*top*/NULL, /*options*/NULL,
"example.xml");
Similarly, you save an XML file using the mxmlSaveFilename function:
mxml_node_t *tree;
mxmlSaveFilename(tree, /*options*/NULL,
"filename.xml");
There are variations of these functions for loading from or saving to file
descriptors, `FILE` pointers, strings, and IO callbacks.
You can find a named element/node using the mxmlFindElement function:
mxml_node_t *node = mxmlFindElement(tree, tree, "name", "attr",
"value", MXML_DESCEND_ALL);
The `name`, `attr`, and `value` arguments can be passed as `NULL` to act as
wildcards, e.g.:
/* Find the first "a" element */
node = mxmlFindElement(tree, tree, "a", NULL, NULL, MXML_DESCEND_ALL);
/* Find the first "a" element with "href" attribute */
node = mxmlFindElement(tree, tree, "a", "href", NULL, MXML_DESCEND_ALL);
/* Find the first "a" element with "href" to a URL */
node = mxmlFindElement(tree, tree, "a", "href",
"https://www.msweet.org/mxml", MXML_DESCEND_ALL);
/* Find the first element with a "src" attribute*/
node = mxmlFindElement(tree, tree, NULL, "src", NULL, MXML_DESCEND_ALL);
/* Find the first element with a "src" = "foo.jpg" */
node = mxmlFindElement(tree, tree, NULL, "src", "foo.jpg",
MXML_DESCEND_ALL);
You can also iterate with the same function:
mxml_node_t *node;
for (node = mxmlFindElement(tree, tree, "name", NULL, NULL,
MXML_DESCEND_ALL);
node != NULL;
node = mxmlFindElement(node, tree, "name", NULL, NULL,
MXML_DESCEND_ALL))
{
... do something ...
}
The mxmlFindPath function finds the (first) value node under a specific
element using an XPath:
mxml_node_t *value = mxmlFindPath(tree, "path/to/*/foo/bar");
The mxmlGetInteger, mxmlGetOpaque, mxmlGetReal, and mxmlGetText functions
retrieve the corresponding value from a node:
mxml_node_t *node;
int intvalue = mxmlGetInteger(node);
const char *opaquevalue = mxmlGetOpaque(node);
double realvalue = mxmlGetReal(node);
bool whitespacevalue;
const char *textvalue = mxmlGetText(node, &whitespacevalue);
Finally, once you are done with the XML data, use the mxmlDelete function to
recursively free the memory that is used for a particular node or the entire
tree:
mxmlDelete(tree);
Getting Help And Reporting Problems
-----------------------------------
The [Mini-XML project page](https://www.msweet.org/mxml) provides access to the
current version of this software, documentation, and Github issue tracking page.
Legal Stuff
-----------
Copyright © 2003-2025 by Michael R Sweet
The Mini-XML library is licensed under the Apache License Version 2.0 with an
*optional* exception to allow linking against GPL2/LGPL2-only software. See the
files "LICENSE" and "NOTICE" for more information.
> Note: The exception listed in the NOTICE file only applies when linking
> against GPL2/LGPL2-only software. Some Apache License purists have objected
> to linking Apache Licensed code against Mini-XML with these exceptions on the
> grounds that it makes Mini-XML somehow incompatible with the Apache License.
> For that reason, people wishing to retain their Apache License purity may
> omit the exception from their copy of Mini-XML.
>
> Note 2: IANAL, but I am beginning to dislike them!
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