Add a node to specific key xml using sed

Question

I am trying to edit the XML file using sed. Here is the file content which I am trying to edit.

<configuration key="student1">
   <list>
     <value>abc</value>
     <value>def</value>
   </list>
</configuration>

I want to add the following value to the existing node by comparing the key value.

<configuration key="student1">
    <list>
      <value>abc</value>
      <value>NEWVALUE</value>
      <value>def</value>
    </list>
</configuration>

How can I achieve it using the sed command? After going to lot of posts, xmlstarlet is the best one to edit the xml files. but I am not able to install due to permission issue. Can someone help me for the solution?

Update:

What I have tried is :

sed -i "s/\<\list\>/ \<value\> NEWVALUE\<\/VALUE\>/" xmlfile

This is not working as expected, its replacing the list tag with the NEWVALUE. But I need to compare the key value, then traverse through the lists, then add the new value.

add the sed code you tried... SO is about helping you with code you already tried and got stuck... — Sundeep, Jul 05 '17 at 13:32
There's likely to be a way to install whatever you want in your home directory. Sed (or any other text processing program) is definitely not the right tool for the job. — Tom Fenech, Jul 05 '17 at 13:48
@BasilJose what you tried is nowhere close to what you want.. you are simply trying to replace `` tag.. and `\<` and `\>` having special meaning of matching word boundaries in GNU sed... what is the key value you want to compare? `student1` or `abc`? in any case, using `sed` here is really not the best idea — Sundeep, Jul 06 '17 at 06:56

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 05 '17 at 14:12

1

If you are desperate and the order of the values isn't important you could use sed and insert the value before the closing list tag and so:

sed -r '/\<\list\>/ i\ \t<value>NEWVAL</value>' xmlfile

Search the the closing list tag and then enter the value tags along with the NEWVAL value.

answered Jul 05 '17 at 14:12

Raman Sailopal

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Its not working. :( I tried with `sed -i "s/\<\list\>/ \ NEWVALUE\<\/VALUE\>/" xmlfile` – Basil Jose Jul 06 '17 at 06:40
It wouldn't as you have remove the "i\" to insert a new line. The -i at the at the beginning simply commits any changes to the file. – Raman Sailopal Jul 06 '17 at 07:51

Add a node to specific key xml using sed

1 Answers1