regular expressions to strip off all the XML - ruby

Question

I am very new with Ruby and I need to write the ruby regular expressions to strip off all the XML and create a file with titles instead of XML:
for example the first book should be:
book: bk101
author: Mathew Gamardella (notice first name first!!!)
title: XML Developer's Guide
Genre: Computer
Price: 44.95
Publish Date: October 1,2000 (Notice this is different from the XML - you must convert the date to this form)
Description: An in-depth look at creating applications
with XML
Here is my XML file -
<?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 look at creating applications
with 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,
an evil sorceress, and her own childhood to become queen
of the world.</description>
</book>
<book id="bk103">
<author>Corets, Eva</author>
<title>Maeve Ascendant</title>
<genre>Fantasy</genre>
<price>5.95</price>
<publish_date>2000-11-17</publish_date>
<description>After the collapse of a nanotechnology
society in England, the young survivors lay the
foundation for a new society.</description>
</book>
<book id="bk104">
<author>Corets, Eva</author>
<title>Oberon's Legacy</title>
<genre>Fantasy</genre>
<price>5.95</price>
<publish_date>2001-03-10</publish_date>
<description>In post-apocalypse England, the mysterious
agent known only as Oberon helps to create a new life
for the inhabitants of London. Sequel to Maeve
Ascendant.</description>
</book>
<book id="bk105">
<author>Corets, Eva</author>
<title>The Sundered Grail</title>
<genre>Fantasy</genre>
<price>5.95</price>
<publish_date>2001-09-10</publish_date>
<description>The two daughters of Maeve, half-sisters,
battle one another for control of England. Sequel to
Oberon's Legacy.</description>
</catalog>
Any help is really appreciated.

Answer 1

This looks more like a homework assignment than a question. I'll let you figure out how to write files and format the date --- here's something simple that will make a hash out of your XML and loop through each book / field one at a time (I shortened your document to two books).
require 'active_support/core_ext/hash'
xml_books = <<-EOF
"<?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 look at creating applications
with 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,
an evil sorceress, and her own childhood to become queen
of the world.</description>
</book>
</catalog>
EOF
books = Hash.from_xml(xml_books)
books['catalog']['book'].each do |e|
e.keys.each do |k|
printf("%s -> %s\n", k, e[k])
end # do k
end # do e
Produces the following output:
id -> bk101
author -> Gambardella, Matthew
title -> XML Developer's Guide
genre -> Computer
price -> 44.95
publish_date -> 2000-10-01
description -> An in-depth look at creating applications
with XML.
id -> bk102
author -> Ralls, Kim
title -> Midnight Rain
genre -> Fantasy
price -> 5.95
publish_date -> 2000-12-16
description -> A former architect battles corporate zombies,
an evil sorceress, and her own childhood to become queen
of the world.