# phpman > perldoc > XML::SAX

## NAME
    [XML::SAX](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX/markdown) - Simple API for XML

## SYNOPSIS
      use [XML::SAX](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX/markdown);

      # get a list of known parsers
      my $parsers = [XML::SAX](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX/markdown)->parsers();

      # add/update a parser
      [XML::SAX](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX/markdown)->add_parser(q([XML::SAX::PurePerl](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3APurePerl/markdown)));

      # remove parser
      [XML::SAX](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX/markdown)->remove_parser(q([XML::SAX::Foodelberry](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3AFoodelberry/markdown)));

      # save parsers
      [XML::SAX](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX/markdown)->save_parsers();

## DESCRIPTION
    [XML::SAX](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX/markdown) is a SAX parser access API for Perl. It includes classes and APIs required for
    implementing SAX drivers, along with a factory class for returning any SAX parser installed on
    the user's system.

## USING A SAX2 PARSER
    The factory class is [XML::SAX::ParserFactory](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3AParserFactory/markdown). Please see the documentation of that module for
    how to instantiate a SAX parser: [XML::SAX::ParserFactory](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3AParserFactory/markdown). However if you don't want to load up
    another manual page, here's a short synopsis:

      use [XML::SAX::ParserFactory](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3AParserFactory/markdown);
      use [XML::SAX::XYZHandler](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3AXYZHandler/markdown);
      my $handler = [XML::SAX::XYZHandler](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3AXYZHandler/markdown)->new();
      my $p = [XML::SAX::ParserFactory](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3AParserFactory/markdown)->parser(Handler => $handler);
      $p->parse_uri("foo.xml");
      # or $p->parse_string("<foo/>") or $p->parse_file($fh);

    This will automatically load a SAX2 parser (defaulting to [XML::SAX::PurePerl](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3APurePerl/markdown) if no others are
    found) and return it to you.

    In order to learn how to use SAX to parse XML, you will need to read [XML::SAX::Intro](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3AIntro/markdown) and for
    reference, [XML::SAX::Specification](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3ASpecification/markdown).

## WRITING A SAX2 PARSER
    The first thing to remember in writing a SAX2 parser is to subclass [XML::SAX::Base](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3ABase/markdown). This will
    make your life infinitely easier, by providing a number of methods automagically for you. See
    [XML::SAX::Base](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3ABase/markdown) for more details.

    When writing a SAX2 parser that is compatible with [XML::SAX](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX/markdown), you need to inform [XML::SAX](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX/markdown) of the
    presence of that driver when you install it. In order to do that, [XML::SAX](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX/markdown) contains methods for
    saving the fact that the parser exists on your system to a "INI" file, which is then loaded to
    determine which parsers are installed.

    The best way to do this is to follow these rules:

    *   Add [XML::SAX](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX/markdown) as a prerequisite in Makefile.PL:

          WriteMakefile(
              ...
              PREREQ_PM => { '[XML::SAX](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX/markdown)' => 0 },
              ...
          );

        Alternatively you may wish to check for it in other ways that will cause more than just a
        warning.

    *   Add the following code snippet to your Makefile.PL:

          sub [MY::install](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/MY%3A%3Ainstall/markdown) {
            package MY;
            my $script = shift->[SUPER::install](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/SUPER%3A%3Ainstall/markdown)(@_);
            if ([ExtUtils::MakeMaker::prompt](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/ExtUtils%3A%3AMakeMaker%3A%3Aprompt/markdown)(
              "Do you want to modify ParserDetails.ini?", 'Y')
              =~ /^y/i) {
              $script =~ s/install :: (.*)$/install :: $1 install_sax_driver/m;
              $script .= <<"INSTALL";

          install_sax_driver :
          \t\@\$(PERL) -[MXML::SAX](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/MXML%3A%3ASAX/markdown) -e "[XML::SAX](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX/markdown)->add_parser(q(\$(NAME)))->save_parsers()"

          INSTALL
            }
            return $script;
          }

        Note that you should check the output of this - \$(NAME) will use the name of your
        distribution, which may not be exactly what you want. For example [XML::LibXML](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ALibXML/markdown) has a driver
        called [XML::LibXML::SAX::Generator](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ALibXML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3AGenerator/markdown), which is used in place of \$(NAME) in the above.

    *   Add an [XML::SAX](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX/markdown) test:

        A test file should be added to your t/ directory containing something like the following:

          use Test;
          BEGIN { plan tests => 3 }
          use [XML::SAX](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX/markdown);
          use [XML::SAX::PurePerl::DebugHandler](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3APurePerl%3A%3ADebugHandler/markdown);
          [XML::SAX](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX/markdown)->add_parser(q([XML::SAX::MyDriver](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3AMyDriver/markdown)));
          local $[XML::SAX::ParserPackage](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3AParserPackage/markdown) = '[XML::SAX::MyDriver](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3AMyDriver/markdown)';
          eval {
            my $handler = [XML::SAX::PurePerl::DebugHandler](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3APurePerl%3A%3ADebugHandler/markdown)->new();
            ok($handler);
            my $parser = [XML::SAX::ParserFactory](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3AParserFactory/markdown)->parser(Handler => $handler);
            ok($parser);
            ok($parser->isa('[XML::SAX::MyDriver](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3AMyDriver/markdown)');
            $parser->parse_string("<tag/>");
            ok($handler->{seen}{start_element});
          };

## EXPORTS
    By default, [XML::SAX](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX/markdown) exports nothing into the caller's namespace. However you can request the
    symbols "Namespaces" and "Validation" which are the URIs for those features, allowing an easier
    way to request those features via ParserFactory:

      use [XML::SAX](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX/markdown) qw(Namespaces Validation);
      my $factory = [XML::SAX::ParserFactory](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3AParserFactory/markdown)->new();
      $factory->require_feature(Namespaces);
      $factory->require_feature(Validation);
      my $parser = $factory->parser();

## AUTHOR
    Current maintainer: Grant McLean, <grantm@cpan.org>

    Originally written by:

    Matt Sergeant, <matt@sergeant.org>

    Kip Hampton, <khampton@totalcinema.com>

    Robin Berjon, <robin@knowscape.com>

## LICENSE
    This is free software, you may use it and distribute it under the same terms as Perl itself.

## SEE ALSO
    [XML::SAX::Base](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3ABase/markdown) for writing SAX Filters and Parsers

    [XML::SAX::PurePerl](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3APurePerl/markdown) for an XML parser written in 100% pure perl.

    [XML::SAX::Exception](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ASAX%3A%3AException/markdown) for details on exception handling