---
title: Groovy - Reading XML using Groovy's XmlSlurper
tags:
  - IT/Development/Groovy
---

This example assumes the following class is already on your CLASSPATH:

XmlExamples.groovy
```groovy
class XmlExamples {
  static def CAR_RECORDS = '''
    <records>
      <car name='HSV Maloo' make='Holden' year='2006'>
        <country>Australia</country>
        <record type='speed'>Production Pickup Truck with speed of 271kph</record>
      </car>
      <car name='P50' make='Peel' year='1962'>
        <country>Isle of Man</country>
        <record type='size'>Smallest Street-Legal Car at 99cm wide and 59 kg in weight</record>
      </car>
      <car name='Royale' make='Bugatti' year='1931'>
        <country>France</country>
        <record type='price'>Most Valuable Car at $15 million</record>
      </car>
    </records>
  '''
}
```
Here is an example of using XmlSlurper:
```groovy
def records = new XmlSlurper().parseText(XmlExamples.CAR_RECORDS)
def allRecords = records.car
assert 3 == allRecords.size()
def allNodes = records.depthFirst().collect{ it }
assert 10 == allNodes.size()
def firstRecord = records.car[0]
assert 'car' == firstRecord.name()
assert 'Holden' == firstRecord.@make.text()
assert 'Australia' == firstRecord.country.text()
def carsWith_e_InMake = records.car.findAll{ it.@make.text().contains('e') }
assert carsWith_e_InMake.size() == 2// alternative way to find cars with 'e' in makeassert 2 == records.car.findAll{ it.@make =~ '.*e.*' }.size()
// makes of cars that have an 's' followed by an 'a' in the countryassert ['Holden', 'Peel'] == records.car.findAll{ it.country =~ '.*s.*a.*' }.@make.collect{ it.text() }
def expectedRecordTypes = ['speed', 'size', 'price']
assert expectedRecordTypes == records.depthFirst().grep{ it.@type != '' }.'@type'*.text()
assert expectedRecordTypes == records.'**'.grep{ it.@type != '' }.'@type'*.text()
def countryOne = records.car[1].country
assert 'Peel' == countryOne.parent().@make.text()
assert 'Peel' == countryOne.'..'.@make.text()
// names of cars with records sorted by yeardef sortedNames = records.car.list().sort{ it.@year.toInteger() }.'@name'*.text()
assert ['Royale', 'P50', 'HSV Maloo'] == sortedNames
assert ['Australia', 'Isle of Man'] == records.'**'.grep{ it.@type =~ 's.*' }*.parent().country*.text()
assert 'co-re-co-re-co-re' == records.car.children().collect{ it.name()[0..1] }.join('-')
assert 'co-re-co-re-co-re' == records.car.'*'.collect{ it.name()[0..1] }.join('-')
```
Notes:

- If your elements contain characters such as dashes, you can enclose the element name in double quotes. Meaning for:

```xml
<foo>
  <foo-bar>test</foo-bar>
</foo>
```

You do the following:

```groovy
def foo = new XmlSlurper().parseText(FOO_XML)
assert "test" == foo."foo-bar".text()
```

You can also parse XML documents using namespaces:

```groovy
def wsdl = '''
<definitions name="AgencyManagementService"
    xmlns:ns1="http://www.example.org/NS1"
    xmlns:ns2="http://www.example.org/NS2">
    <ns1:message name="SomeRequest">
        <ns1:part name="parameters" element="SomeReq" />
    </ns1:message>
    <ns2:message name="SomeRequest">
        <ns2:part name="parameters" element="SomeReq" />
    </ns2:message>
</definitions>
'''

def xml = new XmlSlurper().parseText(wsdl).declareNamespace(ns1: 'http://www.example.org/NS1', ns2: 'http://www.example.org/NS2')
println xml.'ns1:message'.'ns1:part'.size()
println xml.'ns2:message'.'ns2:part'.size()
```

XmlSlurper has a declareNamespace method which takes a Map of prefix to URI mappings. You declare the namespaces and just use the prefixes in the GPath expression.

```groovy
new XmlSlurper().parseText(blog).declareNamespace(dc: "http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/").channel.item.findAll { item ->
   d.any{entry -> item."dc:date".text() =~ entry.key} && a.any{entry -> item.tags.text() =~ entry
}
```

Some remarks:

- name or "*:name" matches an element named "name" irrespective of the namespace it's in (i.e. this is the default mode of operation)
- ":name" matches an element named "name" only id the element is not in a namespace
- "prefix:name" matches an element names "name" only if it is in the namespace identified by the prefix "prefix" (and the prefix to namespace mapping was defined by a previous call to declareNamespace)

You can generate namespaced elements in StreamingMarkupBuilder very easily:

```groovy
System.out << new StreamingMarkupBuilder().bind {
    mkp.declareNamespace(dc: "http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/")

    root {
        dc.date()
    }
}
```