Regex : How to remove XML tag style

Question

I have a config.ini file formed as XML like that :

<positions>

    <position>
        <name>BLOCK TAB 1</name>
        <tag>[BLOCK_TAB_1]</tag>
    </position>


    <position>
        <name>PERSONALAREA</name>
        <tag>[PERSONALAREA]</tag>
    </position>
</positions>

I tried to remove the block :

<position>
    <name>BLOCK TAB 1</name>
    <tag>[BLOCK_TAB_1]</tag>
</position>

by using preg_replace

$find1 = "/<name>BLOCK TAB 1<\/name>/";
$find2 = "/<tag>\[BLOCK_TAB_1\]<\/tag>/";

$contents = preg_replace($find1, "", $contents);
$contents = preg_replace($find2, "", $contents);

But the content will be

<positions>

    <position>


    </position>


    <position>
        <name>PERSONALAREA</name>
        <tag>[PERSONALAREA]</tag>
    </position>
</positions>

The empty <position> tag ( with tabs inside ) still here.

Try to use /<position[^>]*><\\/position[^>]*>/ to replace empty <position> tag, but because of tabs inside, so replace is not working.

Somebody have idea ?

' "\n\s+BLOCK TAB 1\n\s+\[BLOCK_TAB_1\]\n\s+" ' use this or ' "\n\s+.*\n\s+.*\n\s+" ' — Ashish, Apr 15 '16 at 04:43

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:07

3

You shouldn't use regex to parse this XML. In this example, you could use XPath to easily identify the <name> that has the text "BLOCK TAB 1", then select its parent and remove it:

$doc = new DOMDocument;
$doc->loadXML($xml);

$xpath = new DOMXpath($doc);

$positions = $xpath->query('//name[text()="BLOCK TAB 1"]/parent::position');

foreach ($positions as $position) {
    // Remove it
    $position->parentNode->removeChild($position);
}

echo $doc->saveXML();

Example

edited May 23 '17 at 12:07

Community

1
1

answered Apr 15 '16 at 04:46

scrowler

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yup, no to regex, this is the proper tool to use – Kevin Apr 15 '16 at 04:50
Thank you ! I have a little trouble with DOMDocument and simpleXML : My text is in Vietnamese and after parse, it will be come like this ``` Đây là giao diện mặc định của hệ ``` – Aluminum Gates Apr 15 '16 at 05:00
You will need to set the appropriate encoding when you call DOMDocument – scrowler Apr 15 '16 at 05:04
@RobbieAverill Tried ```$doc = new DOMDocument('1.0', 'utf-8');``` Still no luck. – Aluminum Gates Apr 15 '16 at 05:46
Ah, Fixed with ```html_entity_decode``` before export to file. Thank you, again. – Aluminum Gates Apr 15 '16 at 05:53

Regex : How to remove XML tag style

1 Answers1