How to pretty print XML from Java?

Question

I have a Java String that contains XML, with no line feeds or indentations. I would like to turn it into a String with nicely formatted XML. How do I do this?

Answer 1

For those searching for a quick and dirty solution - which doesn't need the XML to be 100% valid. e.g. in case of REST / SOAP logging (you never know what the others send ;-))

I found and advanced a code snipped I found online which I think is still missing here as a valid possible approach:

public static String prettyPrintXMLAsString(String xmlString) {
    /* Remove new lines */
    final String LINE_BREAK = "\n";
    xmlString = xmlString.replaceAll(LINE_BREAK, "");
    StringBuffer prettyPrintXml = new StringBuffer();
    /* Group the xml tags */
    Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("(<[^/][^>]+>)?([^<]*)(]+>)?(<[^/][^>]+/>)?");
    Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(xmlString);
    int tabCount = 0;
    while (matcher.find()) {
        String str1 = (null == matcher.group(1) || "null".equals(matcher.group())) ? "" : matcher.group(1);
        String str2 = (null == matcher.group(2) || "null".equals(matcher.group())) ? "" : matcher.group(2);
        String str3 = (null == matcher.group(3) || "null".equals(matcher.group())) ? "" : matcher.group(3);
        String str4 = (null == matcher.group(4) || "null".equals(matcher.group())) ? "" : matcher.group(4);

        if (matcher.group() != null && !matcher.group().trim().equals("")) {
            printTabs(tabCount, prettyPrintXml);
            if (!str1.equals("") && str3.equals("")) {
                ++tabCount;
            }
            if (str1.equals("") && !str3.equals("")) {
                --tabCount;
                prettyPrintXml.deleteCharAt(prettyPrintXml.length() - 1);
            }

            prettyPrintXml.append(str1);
            prettyPrintXml.append(str2);
            prettyPrintXml.append(str3);
            if (!str4.equals("")) {
                prettyPrintXml.append(LINE_BREAK);
                printTabs(tabCount, prettyPrintXml);
                prettyPrintXml.append(str4);
            }
            prettyPrintXml.append(LINE_BREAK);
        }
    }
    return prettyPrintXml.toString();
}

private static void printTabs(int count, StringBuffer stringBuffer) {
    for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
        stringBuffer.append("\t");
    }
}

public static void main(String[] args) {
    String x = new String(
            "soap:ClientINVALID_MESSAGE20007INVALID_MESSAGEProblems creating SAAJ object model");
    System.out.println(prettyPrintXMLAsString(x));
}

here is the output:

  
    
        soap:Client
        INVALID_MESSAGE
        
            
                20007
                INVALID_MESSAGE
                Problems creating SAAJ object model