xml-transform

Transform an XML document using an XSL stylesheet, passing one XPATH parameter and one literal string parameter

$ xml [[tr|transform]] [path/to/stylesheet.xsl] -p "[Count='count(/xml/table/rec)']" -s [Text="Count="] [path/to/input.xml|URI]

$ xml [[tr|transform]] --help

xml-transform [OPTIONS] <INPUT_XML_FILE> <XSL_STYLESHEET_FILE> [<OUTPUT_FILE>]

<INPUT_XML_FILE>
    The path to the XML document to be transformed.

<XSL_STYLESHEET_FILE>
    The path to the XSLT stylesheet to apply.

<OUTPUT_FILE>
    (Optional) The path where the transformed output will be saved. If omitted, output typically goes to standard output (stdout).

-s, --stylesheet <FILE>
    Specifies the XSLT stylesheet file (alternative to positional argument).

-i, --input <FILE>
    Specifies the input XML file (alternative to positional argument).

-o, --output <FILE>
    Specifies the output file (alternative to positional argument).

-p, --param <NAME>=<VALUE>
    Passes a parameter to the XSLT stylesheet, often used to customize transformation behavior.

-v, --verbose
    Enables verbose output, showing more details about the transformation process, useful for debugging.

-h, --help
    Displays a help message and exits.

The xml-transform command is commonly found as a wrapper script that simplifies the process of transforming XML documents using XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations). While not a standard command included in most base Linux distributions, it often acts as a convenient front-end to more powerful and widely available XSLT processors like xsltproc (from libxslt) or xmlstarlet.

Its primary function is to apply an XSLT stylesheet to an input XML file, producing a new XML document or another text-based format (e.g., HTML, plain text) as output. This utility streamlines the command-line execution of XSLT, abstracting away some of the complexities of the underlying processor's options and arguments, making it easier for users to perform common transformation tasks.

xml-transform is not a standard Linux command universally available across all distributions. It is typically a custom script or part of a specific package (e.g., DocBook tools) that acts as a simplified wrapper for underlying XSLT processors like xsltproc or xmlstarlet.

Its exact behavior, available options, and installation method can vary significantly depending on the system or specific package providing it.

For robust and cross-platform XML transformations, it is generally recommended to use the underlying tools directly, such as xsltproc(1) for XSLT 1.0 or xmlstarlet(1) for more comprehensive XML operations, which offer more control and consistent behavior.

xml-transform is primarily used for tasks such as converting XML to HTML for web display, restructuring XML data, filtering specific XML elements, or generating text reports from XML sources. It's especially useful in automated build processes or content management workflows.

The effectiveness of xml-transform relies heavily on the capabilities of the underlying XSLT processor. Most commonly, it utilizes XSLT 1.0 features through xsltproc. For more advanced features like XSLT 2.0 or 3.0, users would typically need to employ processors like Saxon/Java directly.

The concept of a simplified xml-transform script emerged as a convenience wrapper, particularly in environments where complex command-line arguments for XSLT processors were common or when integrating into larger build systems (e.g., DocBook processing pipelines). These scripts often served to provide a consistent, simpler interface over tools like xsltproc or xalan, abstracting away details and allowing users to focus on the input, stylesheet, and output files. While not an official GNU project, such wrappers gained popularity for their ease of use in specific toolchains.

xsltproc(1), xmlstarlet(1), docbook(7)