How can I use xmlstarlet and XPath to extract two elements at the same time

Question

I have an xml document of the form

root
 +- foo
 +- bar
 |   +- @baz

I want to extract the value of /root/foo and of /root/bar/@baz in one go from the command line.

I can do

cat file.xml | xmlstarlet sel -t -v "/root/foo" -n

and

cat file.xml | xmlstarlet sel -t -v "/root/bar/@baz" -n

separately.

And I can do

cat file.xml | xmlstarlet sel -t -v "/root/foo|bar/@baz" -n

which gives me the value of baz if foo doesn't exist.

I tried

cat file.xml | xmlstarlet sel -t -v "/root/[foo and bar/@baz]" -n

but that doesn't work

compilation error: element with-param
XSLT-with-param: Failed to compile select expression '/root/[foo and bar/@baz]'

How can I get both?

Update: Minimum reproducible example

XML File

<root>
  <foo>Value F1</foo>
  <bar baz="Value B1" />

  <foo>Value F2</foo>
  <bar baz="Value B2" />
</root>

The command

cat file.xml | xmlstarlet sel -t -v "/root/foo" -n

Gives me

Value F1
Value F2

and

cat file.xml | xmlstarlet sel -t -v "/root/bar/@baz" -n

Gives me

Value B1
Value B2

and

cat file.xml | xmlstarlet sel -t -v "/root/foo|bar/@baz" -n

Also gives me

Value F1
Value F2

My expected outcome is something like

Value F1 Value B1
Value F2 Value B2

each in one line.

I am using xmlstarlet, version

1.6.1
compiled against libxml2 2.9.13, linked with 20913
compiled against libxslt 1.1.35, linked with 10135

I don't care which version of XPath I need to use to get this outcome.

While asking an XPath question you need to provide a minimal reproducible example: (1) Well-formed input XML. (2) Your logic, and XPath expression that tries to implement it. (3) Desired output based on the #1 above. (4) XPath processor and its conformance with the XPath standards: 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, or 4.0. — Yitzhak Khabinsky
– Yitzhak Khabinsky, Commented Jan 30, 2024 at 15:27
You say "I don't care which version of XPath I need to use to get this outcome." But xmlstarlet restricts you to 1.0. If you switched to Saxon's Gizmo [my company's product] you could use XPath 3.1, or even 4.0 if you don't mind being on the bleeding edge. — Michael Kay
– Michael Kay, Commented Jan 30, 2024 at 18:31

Siebe Jongebloed · Accepted Answer · 2024-01-30 16:01:37Z

1

You were almost there with:

/root/foo|bar/@baz

try this:

root/foo|/root/bar/@baz

answered Jan 30, 2024 at 16:01

Siebe Jongebloed

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Luuk · Accepted Answer · 2024-01-30 16:05:25Z

-1

xmlstarlet sel -t -v /root/foo[1] -o " " -v /root/bar[1]/@baz -n -v /root/foo[2] -o " " -v /root/bar[2]/@baz -n file.xml

output:

Value F1 Value B1
Value F2 Value B2

answered Jan 30, 2024 at 16:05

Luuk

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