# The xmlstarlet utility for Linux > Master XML data manipulation on the Linux command line with xmlstarlet. This guide shows you how to beautify XML output and filter nodes using XPath expressions ---  **TL;DR** This article introduces `xmlstarlet`, the XML equivalent of `jq`: pretty-printing minified XML with `xmlstarlet format --indent-spaces 4`, and extracting or filtering nodes with XPath expressions via `xmlstarlet sel -t -v`, including attribute-based filters like `//book[@category='children']/title`. `xmlstarlet` is a powerful utility for Linux that lets you manipulate XML data from the command line and can be integrated into shell scripts. *It is to XML what [`jq`](/blog/linux-jq) is to JSON.* Using `xmlstarlet` you can beautify XML output but also filter it like f.i. showing only a given node. ## A wall of XML in, one word out Here is the file we'll play with, `data.xml`, exactly as a machine would have written it; everything on the same line, no format at all: **data.xml** ```xml Giada De Laurentiis200530.00J K. Rowling200529.99James McGovernPer BothnerKurt CagleJames LinnVaidyanathan Nagarajan200349.99Erik T. Ray200339.95 ``` Now let's ask it a question: *give me the title of the book filed under the `children` category*. ```bash $ cat "data.xml" | xmlstarlet sel -t -v "//book[@category='children']/title" Harry Potter ``` One command, one answer, and not a single line of parsing code. ## Beautifying the file The second thing you'll use every day: making that wall readable, using the `format` action. ```bash $ cat "data.xml" | xmlstarlet format --indent-spaces 4 ``` ```xml Giada De Laurentiis 2005 30.00 J K. Rowling 2005 29.99 James McGovern Per Bothner Kurt Cagle James Linn Vaidyanathan Nagarajan 2003 49.99 Erik T. Ray 2003 39.95 ``` ## Seeing It in Action with Docker Before installing anything, try both commands above in a throwaway container — `data.xml`, byte for byte the same file shown at the top of this article, is already waiting in the working directory. > **Why Docker first?:** > > The Dockerfile below installs `xmlstarlet` and writes `data.xml` for you. Nothing to create, > paste or download — just pipe it through `xmlstarlet`. **Dockerfile** ```docker FROM ubuntu:24.04 ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive RUN apt-get update && \ apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \ xmlstarlet && \ rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* # The exact data.xml used throughout this article, already in place RUN mkdir -p /root/demo && \ printf '%s' 'Giada De Laurentiis200530.00J K. Rowling200529.99James McGovernPer BothnerKurt CagleJames LinnVaidyanathan Nagarajan200349.99Erik T. Ray200339.95' \ > /root/demo/data.xml WORKDIR /root/demo # Signal clearly that this shell runs inside a container RUN echo "PS1='\n\e[0;33m🐳 \e[0;36m\$(whoami)\e[0m \w # '" >> /root/.bashrc CMD ["/bin/bash", "-i"] ``` Build and run it: ```bash $ docker build -t xmlstarlet-demo . [+] Building 9.4s (6/6) FINISHED ✔ exporting to image $ docker run --rm -it xmlstarlet-demo 🐳 root ~/demo # cat data.xml | xmlstarlet sel -t -v "//book[@category='children']/title" Harry Potter ``` Same file, same filter, same answer — no `mkdir`, no copy-pasting XML into a new file. Try `cat data.xml | xmlstarlet format --indent-spaces 4` next to see the beautified version, or change the XPath expression to pull a different node. ## Installing xmlstarlet To verify if `xmlstarlet` is already installed on your system, simply run `which xmlstarlet`. If you get `xmlstarlet not found` as an answer: Prerequisite: xmlstarlet ```bash $ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y install xmlstarlet ``` Verify: ```bash $ xmlstarlet --version 1.6.1 ``` ## Let's play To reproduce the two commands above on your machine, please start a Linux shell and run `mkdir -p /tmp/xmlstarlet && cd $_`, then create a new file called `data.xml` with the content displayed at the top of this article. ## Understanding the XPath expression An XPath expression is just a path in the tree. Our root node is called `bookstore`, then we have one or more `book` and each book has a `title`: ```xml [...] [...] ``` Walk that path from the root and you get every title of the file: ```bash $ cat "data.xml" | xmlstarlet sel -t -v "/bookstore/book/title" Everyday Italian Harry Potter XQuery Kick Start Learning XML ``` The expression used at the beginning of this article, `//book[@category='children']/title`, is the filtering version: give me each `book`; it doesn't matter where the book node is located (that's the `//` prefix); but only if it has an attribute named `category` and whose value is `children`. Then, if found, display its `title`. ## Conclusion Two actions cover most of the day-to-day needs: `format` to make an XML file human-readable, and `sel -t -v` with an XPath expression to pull exactly the node you need out of it; both usable in a pipe, so both usable in a shell script. Read the [official documentation](https://xmlstar.sourceforge.net/docs.php) to learn more about xmlstarlet, and if your next file is a `.json` one, [the jq utility for Linux](/blog/linux-jq) is the very same story with a different syntax.