xml-elements

Extract elements from an XML document (producing XPATH expressions)

$ xml [[el|elements]] [path/to/input.xml|URI] > [path/to/elements.xpath]

$ xml [[el|elements]] -a [path/to/input.xml|URI] > [path/to/elements.xpath]

$ xml [[el|elements]] -v [path/to/input.xml|URI] > [path/to/elements.xpath]

$ xml [[el|elements]] -u [path/to/input.xml|URI]

$ xml [[el|elements]] -d[3] [path/to/input.xml|URI]

$ xml [[el|elements]] --help

xml-elements [OPTIONS] [FILE...]

-a
    Include attribute names in the listing along with element names.

-u
    List only unique element names found in the document, avoiding duplicates.

-v
    List element names along with their associated text content (values).

-c
    Count the occurrences of each unique element name.

-p
    Pretty print the output for better readability.

--omit-decl
    Omit the XML declaration (e.g., <?xml version="1.0"?>) from the output, if applicable to the underlying tool.

--net
    Enable network access for resolving DTDs or schemas, if required by the document.

--help
    Display a help message and exit.

--version
    Display version information and exit.

FILE...
    One or more XML files to process. If no file is specified, it typically reads from standard input (stdin).

The xml-elements command, often a conceptual representation or implemented using utilities like xmlstarlet (specifically its el subcommand), is designed to extract, list, and analyze element names within XML documents.

Its primary purpose is to provide a quick overview of the structural components of an XML file, helping users understand the document's schema or content without needing to parse the entire file manually.

It can list all element names, unique names, or even count occurrences, making it invaluable for XML validation, data exploration, and scripting tasks involving XML data. While not a standalone command universally present in all Linux distributions, its functionality is commonly provided by widely available XML processing suites.

The xml-elements command is not a universally standardized command found in all Linux distributions' default installations. Its core functionality is most commonly provided by the xmlstarlet utility, specifically its el (elements) subcommand. Users might need to install xmlstarlet or a similar XML toolkit to access this functionality.

The exact options and behavior might vary slightly depending on the specific implementation or version of the underlying XML processing tool being used.

Identifying all unique tags in a large XML dataset.
Auditing XML files for specific element names or structural components.
Quickly understanding the structure of an unfamiliar XML document.
Generating reports or summaries on element usage within a collection of XML files.

While there isn't a specific 'xml-elements' command with a singular history, the functionality it represents (extracting element names) has been a core requirement for XML processing since its inception. Tools like xmlstarlet, which provides the el subcommand, emerged in the early 2000s to offer robust command-line XML manipulation. xmlstarlet itself was first released around 2002 by Mikhail Grushko and has since become a de-facto standard for command-line XML operations on Unix-like systems, continuously evolving to meet modern XML processing needs.

xmlstarlet(1), xmllint(1), grep(1), sed(1), awk(1)