Extract xml from string using regular expression

Question

I have following log file from server,I want to extract xml from following string.

2:00:11 PM >>Response: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<HotelML xmlns="http://www.xpegs.com/v2001Q3/HotelML"><Head><Route Destination="TR" Source="00"><Operation Action="Create" App="UltraDirect-d1c1_" AppVer="V1_1" DataPath="/HotelML" StartTime="2013-07-31T08:33:13.223+00:00" Success="true" TotalProcessTime="711"/></Route>............

</HotelML>


3:00:11 PM >>Response: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<HotelML xmlns="http://www.xpegs.com/v2001Q3/HotelML"><Head><Route Destination="TR" Source="00"><Operation Action="Create" App="UltraDirect-d1c1_" AppVer="V1_1" DataPath="/HotelML" StartTime="2013-07-31T08:33:13.223+00:00" Success="true" TotalProcessTime="711"/></Route>............

</HotelML>

5:00:11 PM >>Response: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<HotelML xmlns="http://www.xpegs.com/v2001Q3/HotelML"><Head><Route Destination="TR" Source="00"><Operation Action="Create" App="UltraDirect-d1c1_" AppVer="V1_1" DataPath="/HotelML" StartTime="2013-07-31T08:33:13.223+00:00" Success="true" TotalProcessTime="711"/></Route>............

</HotelML>

I have written following regular expression for the same but it's matching only the first entry in the string.but i want to return all the xml string as collection.

(?<= Response:).*>.*</.*?>

all your exemple log rows starts with "Response: <?xml" and ends with "</HotelML>", is that true for all log rows or just the exemple? — Puggan Se
– Puggan Se, Commented Jul 31, 2013 at 11:45
Is there any reason that you cannot just assume that the content after 'Response: ' represent an xml document? From there, just run it through a schema to validate and then load it as normal. — Gusdor
– Gusdor, Commented Jul 31, 2013 at 11:49
@PugganSe, actually, once you found the "Response" line, it is easy to extract the encoding with a regex... ".*encoding="(.*)".*" and the first group contains the encoding. If you want to be defensive about it... — Daren Thomas
– Daren Thomas, Commented Jul 31, 2013 at 11:50

Daren Thomas · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-31 11:46:51Z

2

why aren't you matching from <HotelML to </HotelML?

something like:

<HotelML .*</HotelML>

Or, just go through the file line by line, and whenever you find a line matching

^.* PM >>Response:.*$

read the following lines as xml until the next matching line...

answered Jul 31, 2013 at 11:46

Daren Thomas

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4 Comments

keyboardP Over a year ago

If OP can guarantee that <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> never changes then this would be a better option than trying to remove Response.

Peter Over a year ago

You should use the encoding of the log file, the <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> does only say something about the encoding of the message.

keyboardP Over a year ago

But that information may still be relevant to the program OP is working on.

user2408588 Over a year ago

It's matching perfectly for single node but for multiple node it's not working

Alex Filipovici · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-31 12:22:23Z

Here's another approach which should leave you with a List<XDocument>:

using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
using System.Xml.Linq;

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {

        var input = File.ReadAllText("text.txt");
        var xmlDocuments = Regex
            .Matches(input, @"([0-9AMP: ]*>>Response: )")
            .Cast<Match>()
            .Select(match =>
                {
                    var currentPosition = match.Index + match.Length;
                    var nextMatch = match.NextMatch();
                    if (nextMatch.Success == true)
                    {
                        return input.Substring(currentPosition,
                            nextMatch.Index - currentPosition);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        return input.Substring(currentPosition);
                    }
                })
            .Select(s => XDocument.Parse(s))
            .ToList();
    }
}

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