xml-p2x

View documentation for the original command

$ tldr xml depyx

xml-p2x [options] <input_file.xml

-t <type>
    Specify the output type. Common types are 'plist' and 'json'.

-o <output_file>
    Specify the output file. If not provided, output is written to standard output.

-r
    Remove whitespace (compact format).

--no_root
    Suppress the root element when generating the output.

--help
    Display help message and exit.

The xml-p2x command is a command-line tool used to convert XML (Extensible Markup Language) files into various other formats, collectively known as 'P2X'. These 'P2X' formats are generally simpler and more structured than XML, and are often used for data interchange or configuration files where human readability and ease of parsing are prioritized. This utility is part of the xml-twig-tools package. It efficiently processes potentially large XML documents using an event-driven parser, avoiding the memory overhead of loading the entire document into memory at once. The supported 'P2X' formats include 'Plist' (property list, often used in macOS configuration), 'JSON' (JavaScript Object Notation), and sometimes other formats depending on the version and available modules. The primary advantage of xml-p2x lies in its ability to transform complex XML structures into more readily consumable formats for scripting and application development, particularly when dealing with legacy or external XML data sources.

It's designed to be scriptable, making it suitable for automated data transformation pipelines. It does require some understanding of XML structure and how it will map to the target 'P2X' format, as the default mappings might not always be ideal. Consult the documentation for specific format options and mapping behavior.

The exact set of supported 'P2X' formats can vary depending on the version of xml-twig-tools installed. The default mappings from XML to 'P2X' might not always be ideal; review the output carefully. Error handling is sometimes minimal, potentially leading to unexpected results with malformed XML.

Convert XML to JSON and save to a file:
xml-p2x -t json -o output.json input.xml

Convert XML to Plist and print to standard output:
xml-p2x -t plist input.xml

The xml-p2x command is part of the xml-twig-tools package, which has been developed to provide efficient and lightweight XML processing capabilities. It aims to offer a faster and more memory-efficient alternative to DOM-based XML parsers for specific tasks like format conversion. Its usage became more prevalent as JSON and Plist formats gained popularity for configuration and data exchange.

xmllint(1), xsltproc(1)