How to read xml value via cmd / PowerShell

Question

I have the following XML format

How can I read the value of Tar Path

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Foo xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <Bar Path="c:\program files\bar" />
  <Tar Path="c:\program files\tar" Include="All" />
  <Updates></Updates>
</Foo>

In this example I need to receive the value: c:\\program files\\tar

Following Alex's comment, it is also possible to do it within a PowerShell script.

I need to add this piece of code into an existing .cmd file, is it possible to call a PowerShell script from the .cmd and get the result back to the cmd?

Answer 1

PowerShell solution:

[xml]$xml = Get-Content $args[0]
$xml.Bar.Tar.Path

VBScript solution:

Set xml = CreateObject("Msxml2.DOMDocument.6.0")
xml.async = False
xml.load WScript.Arguments(0)

If xml.ParseError <> 0 Then
  WScript.Echo xml.ParseError.Reason
  WScript.Quit 1
End If

Set path = xml.SelectSingleNode("/Tar/Bar[@Path]")
WScript.Echo path.Value

Call the above scripts in your batch file like this:

powershell -File "C:\path\to\your.ps1" "C:\path\to\your.xml"

or like this:

cscript //NoLogo "C:\path\to\your.vbs" "C:\path\to\your.xml"

Both the PowerShell and the VBScript write the result to STDOUT. To assign that back to a batch variable you need a for loop like this (replace the ellipsis with one of the commands above):

for /f "tokens=*" %%p in ('...') do set pathvalue=%%p

Answer 2

You could use Xidel for that:

FOR /F "delims=" %%A IN ('xidel.exe -s "C:\path\to\your.xml" -e "pathvalue:=//Tar!@Path" --output-format^=cmd') DO %%A
ECHO %pathvalue%

Answer 3

Consult xml using powershell inside the same .bat file

SET ARXIU=c:\catalunya.xml
FOR /F "tokens=* USEBACKQ" %%F IN (`powershell "[xml]$xml = Get-Content %ARXIU% ; $xml.Foo.Tar.Path"`) DO (
     SET RUTA=%%F
     GOTO HAVE_VALUE
)
echo Error NOT have value
GOTO :EOF

:HAVE_VALUE
echo %RUTA%