XML::DOM Alternative

[PerlingTheUK]

Dearest Monks,
I have used XML::DOM for some XML File manipulation. Usually this was a open, alter and save job and XML::DOM is most perfect for this. But however it is not implemented very good for reducing memory and the 40 MByte files I need to alter just exhaust all available memory. Are there any similar models that are implemented natively and offer a conveniently easy interface?

[Joost]

I've used XML::Twig on quite large (+/- 200 Mb) documents. It's reasonably fast and the API is a *lot* better than XML::DOM.

/me wanders off mumbling about what he'll do the guys responsible for the XML DOM specs).

[fauria]

You can choose XML::SAX as an alternative API. Here you can find a brief discussion on using SAX or DOM.

[grantm]

As noted above, XML::Twig might be a good choice. For something a bit closer to what you're used to, XML::LibXML is worth a look. It uses the DOM API, but since the parsing and DOM building are implemented in C the performance and memory footprint are much better than a Perl DOM. LibXML also supports XPath which is the first thing you need to learn if you're trying to manipulate XML without it. See also the Perl XML FAQ.

[srdst13]

If you aren't yet convinced on the merits of XML::Twig, note that you can parse chunks of the code using any module you like by passing the "twig" to a second parser. For example, you can use Twig to pull out each section of a file then use XML::DOM to parse and operate on it. Finally, there is XML::Twig::XPath which combines Twig and XPath for a very powerful tool for quickly and with minimal memory footprint.

Sean

[coontie]

I have a combo of: use XML::Parser; use XML::SimpleObject; which works very well via an object-oriented interface.

[PerlingTheUK]

Thank you for all your replies. I will consider XML::Twig. I am sorry I did not reply any earlier but my Wireless router dd not like the heat wave we have here in the midlands at the moment.