Is it possible to parse and then modify a single element in an XML

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Asked: May 26, 20262026-05-26T22:29:42+00:00 2026-05-26T22:29:42+00:00

Is it possible to parse and then modify a single element in an XML

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Is it possible to parse and then modify a single element in an XML document?

I’m currently writing a script in ruby which needs to modify a value (specified by xpath) in an xml file. I’m currently using the REXML library to do this:

xmldocument = Document.new(File.new(filename))
property = XPath.first(xmldocument, "/parent/element/property")
property.text = "New property value"
puts xmldocument

Where the input xml is:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<parent>
    <element>
        <property>Old property value</property>
        <verbose />
    </element>
    ...
    (more elements here)
    ...
</parent>

And the output is:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<parent>
    <element>
        <property>New property value</property>
        <verbose/>
    </element>
    ...
    (more elements here)
    ...
</parent>

You should notice that the output xml is slightly reformatted and more than my desired change are made. For example the tag <verbose /> is changed to <verbose/> and double quotes are replaced with single quotes in the first line.

What is the best way to modify just a given element of an xml file and leave the rest of the file intact? Ideally, there is a solution for Ruby but I’d love to know the solution in other languages such as Java.