Validating a HUGE XML file

Question

I'm trying to find a way to validate a large XML file against an XSD. I saw the question ...best way to validate an XML... but the answers all pointed to using the Xerces library for validation. The only problem is, when I use that library to validate a 180 MB file then I get an OutOfMemoryException.

Are there any other tools,libraries, strategies for validating a larger than normal XML file?

EDIT: The SAX solution worked for java validation, but the other two suggestions for the libxml tool were very helpful as well for validation outside of java.

Answer 1

Instead of using a DOMParser, use a SAXParser. This reads from an input stream or reader so you can keep the XML on disk instead of loading it all into memory.

SAXParserFactory factory = SAXParserFactory.newInstance(); factory.setValidating(true); factory.setNamespaceAware(true);  SAXParser parser = factory.newSAXParser();  XMLReader reader = parser.getXMLReader(); reader.setErrorHandler(new SimpleErrorHandler()); reader.parse(new InputSource(new FileReader ("document.xml"))); 

Answer 2

Use libxml, which performs validation and has a streaming mode.