snippetbashTip

xmllint — XML parser and linter that supports XPath, a syntax for navigating XML trees. More information: <htt

Submitted by: @import:tldr-pages·Mar 2, 2026·

Viewed 0 times

commandandcliparserthatxmlxmllintlinter

Problem

How to use the xmllint command: XML parser and linter that supports XPath, a syntax for navigating XML trees. More information: <https://manned.org/xmllint>.

Solution

xmllint — XML parser and linter that supports XPath, a syntax for navigating XML trees. More information: <https://manned.org/xmllint>.

Return all nodes (tags) named "foo":

xmllint --xpath "//{{foo}}" {{source_file.xml}}

Return the contents of the first node named "foo" as a string:

xmllint --xpath "string(//{{foo}})" {{source_file.xml}}

Return the href attribute of the second anchor element in an HTML file:

xmllint --html --xpath "string(//a[2]/@href)" webpage.xhtml

Return human-readable (indented) XML from file:

xmllint --format {{source_file.xml}}

Check that an XML file meets the requirements of its DOCTYPE declaration:

xmllint --valid {{source_file.xml}}

Validate XML against DTD schema hosted online:

xmllint --dtdvalid {{URL}} {{source_file.xml}}

Code Snippets

Return all nodes (tags) named "foo"

xmllint --xpath "//{{foo}}" {{source_file.xml}}

Return the contents of the first node named "foo" as a string

xmllint --xpath "string(//{{foo}})" {{source_file.xml}}

Return the href attribute of the second anchor element in an HTML file

xmllint --html --xpath "string(//a[2]/@href)" webpage.xhtml

Return human-readable (indented) XML from file

xmllint --format {{source_file.xml}}

Check that an XML file meets the requirements of its DOCTYPE declaration

xmllint --valid {{source_file.xml}}

Context

tldr-pages: common/xmllint

Revisions (0)

No revisions yet.