[Tutor] xml parsing

[lumbricus@gmx.net]

Hi!

> > little bit of documentation of the re module, I think I may 
> > be able to figure out how to do this for the general situation 
> > if I can come to understand the re module somewhat correctly.

Forget it (sorry).
 
> Sorry, but you won't, regular expressions are the wrong tool for 
> working with any serious level of XML. They don't handle 
> recursive definitions at all well, and will get you tied up 
> in ever increasing knots.

[ snip why not to use res for parsing XML ]
 
> Trust me on this, trying to parse a completly unformatted XML
> file using regular expressions is not something you want to do!

Full ACK.
| My characterisation of using REs for parsing XML is that it
| is like performing brain surgery with a chainsaw: you get the
| job done, but you have to scrape lots of important bits off
| the wall and put them back in where they belong.
|
|        -- Steve Ball

And don't even think about HTML or even validating 
e-mail-addresses. For all these tasks you need a parser.
The good news is the parsers are available :-)
  
> Alan g.

HTH, J"o!


-- 
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wurde, dann machen wir weiter - Schritt fuer
Schritt, bis es kein Zurueck mehr gibt. 
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