Updating an existing xml file elements with attributes and values using xmlstarlet

Question

I want to write a script to iterate over each element "NewTempP" with attributes and child element and copy the structure to element "fig" as child element. "NewTempP" and "fig" are siblings.

Xml file:

<sec>
    <NewTempP  mimetype="image" mime-subtype="jpeg" xlink:href="image1.jpeg">
            <alt-text>Describes a picture</alt-text>
        </NewTempP >
        <p>test</p>
        <fig> </fig>
    <NewTempP  mimetype="image" mime-subtype="png" xlink:href="image1.png">
           <alt-text>Describes a picture</alt-text>
    </NewTempP >
    <p>test</p>
     <fig> </fig>
   ……..
<sec>

What I did:

xmlstarlet ed -L -P -u "//fig[preceding-sibling::*[1][self:: NewTempP/@*]]/inline-graphic" -x "string(../preceding-sibling::NewTempP [1]/@*)" test.xml

It does not work.

The result supposed to look like this:

<sec>
    <NewTempP  mimetype="image" mime-subtype="jpeg" xlink:href="image1.jpeg">
            <alt-text>Describes a picture</alt-text>
        </NewTempP >
        <p>test</p>
        <fig>
           <NewTempP  mimetype="image" mime-subtype="jpeg" xlink:href="image1.jpeg">
              <alt-text>Describes a picture</alt-text>
          </NewTempP >
       </fig>
       <NewTempP  mimetype="image" mime-subtype="png" xlink:href="image1.png">
           <alt-text>Describes a picture</alt-text>
       </NewTempP >
       <p>test</p>
       <fig>
         <NewTempP  mimetype="image" mime-subtype="png" xlink:href="image1.png">
              <alt-text>Describes a picture</alt-text>
        </NewTempP >
      </fig>
   ……..
<sec>

XML samples should be well formed. This is not well formed <p>test</fig> — LMC
– LMC, Commented Apr 23, 2024 at 14:38

Daniel Haley · Accepted Answer · 2024-04-23 17:02:06Z

Looks like you're trying to modify my last answer but don't quite know how XPath works.

This xpath:

//fig[preceding-sibling::*[1][self:: NewTempP/@*]]/inline-graphic

doesn't work for these reasons:

the first preceding sibling (preceding-sibling::*[1]) of each fig in your example is p; not NewTempP.
your sample input does not have any inline-graphic elements.

This xpath:

string(../preceding-sibling::NewTempP [1]/@*)

doesn't work for these reasons:

the output of string() is a string; not a copy of the node like you requested.
if you're trying to copy the element, selecting its attributes (@*) will not work.
going up to the parent level (..) before trying to select the preceding-sibling NewTempP won't work because NewTempP is not a sibling of sec

You don't explain what the actual logic should be in your selections, but here's an option that just selects the first preceding sibling NewTempP...

xmlstarlet ed -P -u "//fig[preceding-sibling::NewTempP]" -x "preceding-sibling::NewTempP[1]" test.xml

Output (I left out the -L for modifying the input file in-place)...

<sec>
    <NewTempP mimetype="image" mime-subtype="jpeg" xlink:href="image1.jpeg">
        <alt-text>Describes a picture</alt-text>
    </NewTempP>
    <p>test</p>
    <fig><NewTempP mimetype="image" mime-subtype="jpeg" xlink:href="image1.jpeg">
        <alt-text>Describes a picture</alt-text>
    </NewTempP></fig>
    <NewTempP mimetype="image" mime-subtype="png" xlink:href="image1.png">
        <alt-text>Describes a picture</alt-text>
    </NewTempP>
    <p>test</p>
    <fig><NewTempP mimetype="image" mime-subtype="png" xlink:href="image1.png">
        <alt-text>Describes a picture</alt-text>
    </NewTempP></fig>
    ...
</sec>

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