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xmllint VS GNU M4

Compare xmllint VS GNU M4 and see what are their differences

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Contents:
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  2. » Reviews
  3. » Alternatives

xmllint logo xmllint

command line XML tool

GNU M4 logo GNU M4

GNU M4 is an implementation of the m4 macro preprocessor.
  • xmllint Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-16
  • GNU M4 Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-12

xmllint features and specs

  • Validation
    xmllint can be used to validate XML documents against a DTD, which helps ensure the XML structure adheres to a predefined specification.
  • XPath Support
    It offers the ability to evaluate XPath expressions, which allows users to query specific parts of the XML document efficiently.
  • Format and Beautify
    xmllint can reformat XML documents to make them more readable, which is especially helpful for debugging and reviewing code.
  • Wide Compatibility
    As part of the libxml2 project, xmllint is compatible with various systems and supports a wide range of XML standards, making it versatile for different environments.
  • Command-line Usage
    Being a command-line tool, xmllint can be easily scripted and used in automated processes or integrated into development pipelines.

Possible disadvantages of xmllint

  • Complexity for Large Documents
    Handling very large XML documents can be computationally intensive, and xmllint might struggle with performance or memory usage in such cases.
  • Limited Error Descriptions
    Error messages produced by xmllint may not always be detailed, which can make debugging difficult for users without extensive XML knowledge.
  • No XML Schema Validation
    While xmllint supports DTD validation, it does not offer native support for validating XML Schema, which limits its applicability for XML documents based on XML Schema definitions.
  • Learning Curve
    Users unfamiliar with command-line tools may find xmllint challenging to use initially due to its text-based interface and wide range of options.
  • Limited Interactive Use
    Unlike some graphical XML tools, xmllint does not provide an interactive user interface, which may not appeal to users preferring visual tools for working with XML.

GNU M4 features and specs

  • Portability
    GNU M4 is highly portable and can run on almost any Unix-like operating system, which makes it versatile for various environments.
  • Macro Capabilities
    It offers powerful macro processing features that are useful for a wide range of text processing tasks, such as configuring scripts, code generation, and templating.
  • Simplicity
    M4 is relatively simple to use for basic macro processing tasks, which makes it accessible to new users and suitable for straightforward applications.
  • Integration
    GNU M4 often integrates well with other tools and scripts, making it a useful component in build systems and automated workflows.

Possible disadvantages of GNU M4

  • Limited Built-in Functions
    Compared to more modern scripting languages, M4 lacks a wide range of built-in functions and features, which may limit its use for more complex tasks.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    While simple tasks are easy to set up, mastering M4 for more advanced uses can require a deeper understanding of its syntax and capabilities.
  • Debugging Difficulty
    Debugging macros in M4 can be challenging, especially for large scripts, due to the lack of advanced debugging tools and support.
  • Performance Considerations
    For very large and complex scripts, performance may become an issue, as M4 is not optimized for handling large-scale data manipulation compared to more modern alternatives.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to xmllint and GNU M4)

xmllint

GNU M4

Programming Language
48 48%
Programming Language
52% 52
OOP
46 46%
OOP
54% 54
Note Taking
50 50%
Note Taking
50% 50
Generic Programming Language
46 46%
Generic Programming Language
54% 54

User comments

Share your experience with using xmllint and GNU M4. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, xmllint seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 2 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

xmllint mentions (2)

  • Generate RSS feeds with grep(1), sed(1), and Awk(1)
    I strongly recommend adding a schema validator to anything that generates XML. ATOM¹ has a nice schema available² that you can use at the end to check the whole thing (I use xmllint³, since it is in a lot of package repositories). Another nice thing about ATOM compared to RSS is that it has the xml:base attribute, which means you do not need to rewrite relative URLs into absolute ones. You can use recode's⁴... - Source: Hacker News / almost 4 years ago
  • looking for html beautifier
    There is also pup. Or if you want to go with a lot more options with xmllint. Of if you want just to render the html in your terminal. Source: about 4 years ago

GNU M4 mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of GNU M4 yet. Tracking of GNU M4 recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing xmllint and GNU M4, you can also consider the following products

XMLStarlet - XMLStarlet Command Line XML Toolkit

GCC C Preprocessor (cpp) - Top (The C Preprocessor)

Xidel - Xidel is a command line tool to download html/xml pages and extract data from them using CSS 3 selectors, XPath 3 expressions or pattern-matching templates.

PP - A generic Preprocessor - P is a text preprocessor designed for Pandoc (and more generally Markdown and reStructuredText).

GPP - GPP is a general-purpose preprocessor with customizable syntax, suitable for a wide range of...

GNU sed - sed (stream editor) is a Unix utility that parses text and implements a programming language which...

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