perl - read xml file without any XML module -

i trying read xml form using perl can not use xml modules xml::simple, xml::parse.

it simple xml form has basic information , ms doc attachment. want read xml , download attached doc file print xml information in screen.

but don't know way how can without xml module, heard xml file can parse using data::dumper not familiar module, not getting how this.

could please me on if there way without xml modules?

sample xml:

<?xml version="1.0"?> <catalog>    <book id="bk101">       <author>gambardella, matthew</author>       <title>xml developer's guide</title>       <genre>computer</genre>       <price>44.95</price>       <publish_date>2000-10-01</publish_date>       <description>an in-depth @ creating applications        xml.</description>    </book>    <book id="bk102">       <author>ralls, kim</author>       <title>midnight rain</title>       <genre>fantasy</genre>       <price>5.95</price>       <publish_date>2000-12-16</publish_date>       <description>a former architect battles corporate zombies,        evil sorceress, , own childhood become queen        of world.</description>    </book> </catalog> 

i'd re-iterate bad idea. because whilst xml looks plain text - it's isn't plain text. , if treat such, creating brittle, unmaintainable , unsupportable code, may break 1 day, because changes xml format in valid way.

i suggest first port of call go project, , point out how parsing xml without xml parser rather trying use hammer put screws piece of wood. in sort of works, results rather shoddy, , frankly it's unnecessary because screwdrivers exist , job properly, , available.

e.g.

can tell me how can print author, title , price each book id above xml file xml module ?

#!/usr/bin/env perl use strict; use warnings;  use xml::twig; $twig = xml::twig -> new -> parsefile ( 'your_file.xml' ); foreach $book ( $twig -> get_xpath ( '//book' ) ) {     print join ("\n",           $book -> att('id'),          $book -> field('author'),          $book -> field('title'),          $book -> field('price'), ),"\n----\n"; } 

however:

given very specific sample, may able away treating 'plain text'. before this, should point out project lead risky approach - you're putting in screws hammer - , therefore creating ongoing risk of support problems, trivially resolved installing bit of freely available, open source code.

i suggesting at all because i've had deal ludicrously unreasonable similar project demands.

like this:

#!/usr/bin/env perl use strict; use warnings;  while ( <> ) {    if ( m/<book/ ) {         ( $id ) = ( m/id="(\w+)"/ );         print $id,"\n";    }    if ( m/<author/ ) {          ( $author ) = ( m/>(.*)</ );         print $author,"\n";    } } 

now, reason doesn't work sample above can validly formatted as:

<?xml version="1.0"?> <catalog><book id="bk101"><author>gambardella, matthew</author><title>xml developer's guide</title><genre>computer</genre><price>44.95</price><publish_date>2000-10-01</publish_date><description>an in-depth @ creating applications        xml.</description></book><book id="bk102"><author>ralls, kim</author><title>midnight rain</title><genre>fantasy</genre><price>5.95</price><publish_date>2000-12-16</publish_date><description>a former architect battles corporate zombies,        evil sorceress, , own childhood become queen        of world.</description></book></catalog> 

or

<?xml version="1.0"?> <catalog>   <book id="bk101">     <author>gambardella, matthew</author>     <title>xml developer's guide</title>     <genre>computer</genre>     <price>44.95</price>     <publish_date>2000-10-01</publish_date>     <description>an in-depth @ creating applications        xml.</description>   </book>   <book id="bk102">     <author>ralls, kim</author>     <title>midnight rain</title>     <genre>fantasy</genre>     <price>5.95</price>     <publish_date>2000-12-16</publish_date>     <description>a former architect battles corporate zombies,        evil sorceress, , own childhood become queen        of world.</description>   </book> </catalog> 

or:

<?xml version="1.0"?> <catalog ><book id="bk101" ><author >gambardella, matthew</author><title >xml developer's guide</title><genre >computer</genre><price >44.95</price><publish_date >2000-10-01</publish_date><description >an in-depth @ creating applications        xml.</description></book><book id="bk102" ><author >ralls, kim</author><title >midnight rain</title><genre >fantasy</genre><price >5.95</price><publish_date >2000-12-16</publish_date><description >a former architect battles corporate zombies,        evil sorceress, , own childhood become queen        of world.</description></book></catalog> 

or:

<?xml version="1.0"?>  <catalog>   <book id="bk101"><author>gambardella, matthew</author><title>xml developer's guide</title><genre>computer</genre><price>44.95</price><publish_date>2000-10-01</publish_date><description>an in-depth @ creating applications        xml.</description></book>   <book id="bk102"><author>ralls, kim</author><title>midnight rain</title><genre>fantasy</genre><price>5.95</price><publish_date>2000-12-16</publish_date><description>a former architect battles corporate zombies,        evil sorceress, , own childhood become queen        of world.</description></book> </catalog> 

this why have many comments 'use parser' - snippets above, simplistic example gave you... work on 1 , break messily on others.

but xml::twig solution handles them correctly. xml::twig freely available on cpan. (there's other libraries job well). , it's pre-packaged lot of operating systems 'default' repositories.