R: Convert an XML node/document to a more R-like list

xmlToList {XML} | R Documentation

## Convert an XML node/document to a more R-like list

### Description

This function is an early and simple approach to converting an XML node or document into a more typical R list containing the data values directly (rather than as XML nodes). It is useful for dealing with data that is returned from REST requests or other Web queries or generally when parsing XML and wanting to be able to access the content as elements in a list indexed by the name of the node. For example, if given a node of the form `<x> <a>text</a> <b foo="1"/> <c bar="me"> <d>a phrase</d> </c> </x>` We would end up with a list with elements named "a", "b" and "c". "a" would be the string "text", b would contain the named character vector `c(foo = "1")` (i.e. the attributes) and "c" would contain the list with two elements named "d" and ".attrs". The element corresponding to "d" is a character vector with the single element "a phrase". The ".attrs" element of the list is the character vector of attributes from the node `<c>...</c>`.

### Usage

    xmlToList(node, addAttributes = TRUE, simplify = FALSE)

### Arguments

`node` | the XML node or document to be converted to an R list. This can be an "internal" or C-level node (i.e. `XMLInternalNode-class`) or a regular R-level node (either `XMLNode-class` or `XMLHashNode`).
`addAttributes` | a logical value which controls whether the attributes of an empty node are added to the
`simplify` | a logical value that controls whether we collapse the list to a vector if the elements all have a common compatible type. Basically, this controls whether we use `sapply` or `lapply`.

### Value

A list whose elements correspond to the children of the top-level nodes.

### Author(s)

Duncan Temple Lang

### See Also

`xmlTreeParse` `getNodeSet` and `xpathApply` `xmlRoot`, `xmlChildren`, `xmlApply`, `[[`, etc. for accessing the content of XML nodes.

### Examples

    tt =
     '<x>
         <a>text</a>
         <b foo="1"/>
         <c bar="me">
            <d>a phrase</d>
         </c>
      </x>'

      doc = xmlParse(tt)
      xmlToList(doc)

       # use an R-level node representation
      doc = xmlTreeParse(tt)
      xmlToList(doc)

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