RegExp group for xml elements

Question

How can I get observation element and its inner elements?

 <organizer moodCode="EVN" classCode="CLUSTER">
    <templateId root="2.16.840.1.113883.3.129.3.3.6.0"/>
    <statusCode code="completed"/>
    <component>
       <observation moodCode="EVN" classCode="OBS">
          <templateId root="2.16.840.1.113883.3.129.3.3.6.1"/>
          <code codeSystemVersion="2.0" displayName="Kabul Bilgileri" codeSystemName="Veri Kısmı" code="KABUL_BILGILERI" codeSystem="2.16.840.1.113883.3.129.2.2.3"/>
          <effectiveTime value="20120102134751"/>
          <value xsi:type="CD" codeSystemVersion="2.0" displayName="Diğer" codeSystemName="Kabul Şekli" code="98" codeSystem="2.16.840.1.113883.3.129.1.2.7"/>
       </observation>
    </component>
    <component>
       <observation moodCode="EVN" classCode="OBS">
          <templateId root="2.16.840.1.113883.3.129.3.4.365"/>
          <code codeSystemVersion="2.0" displayName="Vaka Türü" codeSystemName="Veri Elemanı" code="VAKA_TURU" codeSystem="2.16.840.1.113883.3.129.2.2.7"/>
          <value xsi:type="CD" codeSystemVersion="2.0" displayName="Normal" codeSystemName="Vaka Türü" code="1" codeSystem="2.16.840.1.113883.3.129.1.2.53"/>
       </observation>
    </component>
 </organizer>

UPDATE: This could be html or another markup language. I just want to retrieve observation elements and inner elements. I won't use this in a program when it is running.

[By using an XML parser.](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1732348/regex-match-open-tags-except-xhtml-self-contained-tags/1732454#1732454) — rid, Jul 26 '12 at 13:42
regex? What language are you using? Why to you need to get observation? Is the XML you have a string or some other object (XElemenet, XmlDocument, etc.) — james31rock, Jul 26 '12 at 13:44

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 26 '12 at 13:45

3

As Jeff explained, you should definitely avoid using regular expressions for that job, when XML parsers exist and would take care of all the nasty details for you!

answered Jul 26 '12 at 13:45

Wookai

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 26 '12 at 14:15

As noted by others you need an XML parse not regular expressions.

Use your XML parser's¹ XPath selection with the query:

//observation

to get all the <observation> elements with their child nodes.

¹ Without knowing you programming platform we cannot help you with that part.

RegExp group for xml elements

2 Answers2