How can I pretty print XML from the command line?
Use xmllint --format your-file.xml for basic XML formatting, or xmlstarlet format with -t -s options for more control; both support stdin and output to file.

If you need to pretty print XML from the command line, there are several reliable tools available. The most common and effective methods use xmlstarlet or xmllint, both of which are widely supported on Unix-like systems.
Using xmllint
xmllint is part of the libxml2 package and is often already installed on Linux and macOS systems. It can format XML with proper indentation for readability.
xmllint --format your-file.xmlThis command reads the file and outputs formatted XML to standard output. To save the result to a file:
xmllint --format your-file.xml > pretty-output.xmlUsing xmlstarlet
xmlstarlet is a versatile command-line toolkit for working with XML. Install it via package managers like apt, brew, or yum if not already present.
xmlstarlet format your-file.xmlTo include indentation with specific spacing:
xmlstarlet format -t -s 2 your-file.xmlThe -t option adds whitespace, and -s 2 sets two-space indentation.
Pretty printing from stdin
Both tools can process XML from standard input, useful in pipelines.
With xmllint:
cat your-file.xml | xmllint --format -With xmlstarlet:
cat your-file.xml | xmlstarlet formatUse - to indicate stdin where needed.
Basically, xmllint is more commonly available by default, while xmlstarlet offers more formatting control. Either works well for cleaning up minified or unformatted XML on the command line.
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