rapid-xml-to-js

rapid-xml-to-js is a fast, lightweight XML parser designed for simple hierarchical XML data.

Features

This library is built for performance and simplicity. Below is a summary of what it can and cannot do:

✅ Features

• Parses well-formed XML into a nested JavaScript object.
• Handles basic XML structures with child elements.
• Sets attributes on elements ($attrs)
• Supports CDATA sections.
• Skips comments, processing instructions (<?...?>), and <!DOCTYPE> declarations.

❌ Limitations

• Does not handle mixed content (text between and around child elements). (To be implemented)
• Does not validate XML (assumes input is well-formed).

Installation

You can install the library via npm:

npm install rapid-xml-to-js

Usage

Here’s how you can use rapid-xml-to-jsn:

import { xlmToJs } from 'rapid-xml-to-js';

const xml = `
<root>
  <item>
    <![CDATA[Some content here]]>
  </item>
  <item>
    <subitem>Another piece of content</subitem>
  </item>
</root>
`;

const parsed = xmlToJs(xml);

console.log(parsed);
// Output:
// {
//   root: {
//     item: [
//       "Some content here",
//       { subitem: "Another piece of content" }
//     ]
//   }
// }

Performance

rapid-xml-to-js is optimized for speed and low memory usage, skipping some XML features to avoid overhead.

API

xmlToJs(xml: string): object

Parses a well-formed XML string into a JavaScript object.

Parameters

• xml (string): The well-formed XML string to parse.

Returns

• A nested JavaScript object representing the XML structure.

Benchmarks

Navigate to benchmarks folder. Credits to fast-xml-parser for the xml docs and benchmark code

Run command npm install

Comment in the XML document path to use

Run command npm run test

Results

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9900X @ 4.4 GHz RAM: 2x32GB DDR5-6000MHz OS: Windows 11 Home 64-bit Runtime: Node.js Benchmark tool: Benchmark.js

ptest.xml

Tiny XML file with attributes, CDATA and nesting | Library | Requests/second | |------------------------------------|-----------------| | fast-xml-parser | 76 833 | | fast-xml-parser - preserve order | 81 940 | | xmlbuilder2 | 33 847 | | xml2js | 36 126 | | txml | 456 226 | | rapid-xml-to-js | 593 815 |

sample.xml

Small sample XML file at 1.5KB | Library | Requests/second | |------------------------------------|-----------------| | fast-xml-parser | 20 676 | | fast-xml-parser - preserve order | 22 492 | | xmlbuilder2 | 15 123 | | xml2js | 16 361 | | txml | 158 576 | | rapid-xml-to-js | 201 213 |

large.xml

Large 98MB XML file | Library | Requests/second | |------------------------------------|-----------------| | fast-xml-parser | 0.2789 | | fast-xml-parser - preserve order | 0.3115 | | xmlbuilder2 | 0.1648 | | xml2js | 0.2233 | | txml | 1.3508 | | rapid-xml-to-js | 1.8392 |

Missing a library?

Create an issue or submit a PR adding the library to the benchmark-project.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you encounter any issues or have suggestions for improvement, feel free to open an issue or a pull request.

License

This library is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for more information.