Java - Reading Comment from XML-File

Question

I have to extract comments from a XML-File. I couldn't find a way to get them using JDOM or something else. At the moment I use Regex and FileReader but I don't feel like this is the way to go.

Can you use something like JDOM to get comments from a XML-File? Or ist it limited to Elements/Nodes and Attributes?

Answer 1

You need to implement a lexical handler. More information over here - http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/jaxp/dom/readingXML.html

Look at the Lexical Controls chapter.

Answer 2

I suggest StAX, fastest and simple

    XMLStreamReader xr = XMLInputFactory.newInstance().createXMLStreamReader(
            new FileInputStream("1.xml"));
    while (xr.hasNext()) {
        if (xr.next() == XMLStreamConstants.COMMENT) {
            String comment = xr.getText();
        }
    }

Answer 3

Are you using XPath? If yes, you can select comments with comment() function.