Re: Convert backslash to slash using XML parsing

[Taulmarill]

if you only whant to translate '\' to '/', why don't you just use tr!\\!/!;?

[Aighearach]

THere must be more to it than that, presumably the books contain other, non-url backslashes also.

[Taulmarill]

yea ok, that may be. but why XML?!?
if i wanted to be clean i would use HTML::Parser.

[j.goor]

I proposed XML parsing because it would solve my problem on one hand and it is a nice way to solve a 'real world problem' on the other hand.
Indeed using 'tr' would convert *all* '\', but I only want to convert *links*.
HTML::Parser sounds usable. I'll take a look at it. In the mean time, don't hesitate to reply furthermore since I hope someone will give me a snippet of XML parsing.. :-) This would make a great start for me to get along

[davido]

Why would you assume that it is safe to convert every backslash in the entire Perl CD Bookshelf to a forward slash? This would blindly ruin every example in the suite of CD books! That's a case of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Could you imagine reading the Camel book where someone has gone through it and changed every single backslash to a forward slash? The first hello world script would look like this:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
print "Hello world!/n";

...and for the record, "/n" is not the same thing as "\n".

No, the OP realy does probably need a token parser like HTML::TokeParser, and a routine a little smarter than blind transliteration.

One thing about the OP's post does bother me though. Does this conversion of file:\\\ to http:// mean that he's going to be making available ONLINE the entire Perl CD Bookshelf, in violation of O'Reilly's copyright?