How can I make empty tags self-closing with Nokogiri?

Question

I\'ve created an XML template in ERB. I fill it in with data from a database during an export process.

In some cases, there is a null value, in which case an element

Answer 1

Search for

<([^>]+)>\s*

and replace with

<\1/>

In Ruby:

result = subject.gsub(/<([^>]+)>\s*<\/\1>/, '<\1/>')

Explanation:

<       # Match opening bracket
(       # Match and remember...
 [^>]+  # One or more characters except >
)       # End of capturing group
>       # Match closing bracket
\s*     # Match optional whitespace & newlines
<       # Match opening bracket
/       # Match /
\1      # Match the contents of the opening tag
>       # Match closing bracket