SLAXML
A pure-Lua SAX-like streaming XML parser with optional DOM builder and serialization.
What is SLAXML?
SLAXML is a pure-Lua SAX-like streaming XML parser that reads XML input in a single pass and emits events for elements, attributes, text, and other nodes. It solves the problem of parsing XML in Lua environments where robust, non-pattern-based parsing is needed, especially for documents with namespaces, CDATA, comments, and complex attribute values. The library includes an optional DOM parser for building and manipulating XML as Lua tables, with serialization back to XML.
Lua developers who need to parse, generate, or manipulate XML data within Lua applications, such as those working on game mods, configuration files, data interchange, or tools that process XML-based formats.
Developers choose SLAXML because it is a pure-Lua solution that is more robust than simple pattern-based parsers, correctly handling edge cases like unescaped '>' in attributes and providing both streaming and DOM interfaces. Its optional DOM parser with serialization allows for easy XML manipulation and round-tripping, all without external dependencies.
Overview
SAX-like streaming XML parser for Lua
Use Cases
Best For
- Parsing XML configuration files in Lua-based applications
- Streaming large XML files in Lua without loading entire documents into memory
- Building and manipulating XML documents as Lua tables for data interchange
- Generating XML output from Lua data with pretty-printing and attribute sorting
- Handling XML namespaces and CDATA sections in Lua scripts
- Converting XML to structured Lua data for game mods or tooling
Not Ideal For
- Applications requiring strict XML validation and error reporting for malformed documents
- Projects that depend on DTDs for entity definitions or document structure validation
- Systems needing to parse XML with custom entity expansions beyond the standard ones
- High-performance environments where native XML parsers in C or other languages are preferred
Pros & Cons
Pros
Correctly parses complex XML constructs like unescaped '>' in attributes and CDATA sections, which simpler pattern-based parsers often fail on, as emphasized in the README.
Implemented in a single Lua file (or two with DOM), requiring no external dependencies, making it easy to integrate into Lua projects without setup overhead.
Offers both a streaming SAX parser for low-memory usage on large files and an optional DOM parser with round-trip serialization for easy manipulation and output.
Provides options to strip whitespace and serialize DOM with pretty-printing and attribute sorting, enhancing readability and diff-friendliness, as shown in the examples.
Cons
Admits in the README that it allows syntactically-invalid XML without errors, such as mismatched tags or unescaped ampersands, which can lead to incorrect parsing in strict scenarios.
Lacks support for DTDs, XInclude, custom entities, and proper encoding handling, limiting its use with standards-compliant XML that relies on these features.
Serialization can produce invalid XML if namespace prefixes are mismatched, as it ignores nsURI in favor of nsPrefix, requiring manual management of xmlns attributes, as warned in the documentation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Projects
json.luaA lightweight JSON library for Lua
lua-cmsgpackA self contained Lua MessagePack C implementation.
lua-pbLua Protocol Buffers
LuLPegA port of LPeg 100% written in Lua.
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