# HG changeset patch
# User Andreas Nolda <andreas@nolda.org>
# Date 1652261059 -7200
#      Wed May 11 11:24:19 2022 +0200
# Node ID fb09589557fec4340c822e0296cd4aa6a538ac6e
# Parent  64e06afc3be2348d278b24c32e5e837c4e051403
add options "-p" ("--pis") and "-P" ("--comments")

diff --git a/ChangeLog.md b/ChangeLog.md
--- a/ChangeLog.md
+++ b/ChangeLog.md
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2022-05-11:
+
+* add options `-p` (`--pis`) and `-P` (`--comments`)
+
+
 2020-04-26:
 
 * add option `-a` (`--abbreviate`)
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@
              [-M] [--files-and-matches]
              [-n] [--line-number]
              [-N] [--declare-ns]
+             [-p] [--pis]
+             [-P] [--comments]
              [-q] [--quiet]
              [-r <ns>] [--regex <ns>]
              <XPath expression>
@@ -48,7 +50,9 @@
 used in the XPath expression for matching regular expressions. The option `-i`
 indents the matching parts, and the option `-N` includes namespace declarations.
 Matching parts can be abbreviated to their first line by means of the option
-`-a`. The `-C` option preserves color and formatting codes when piping output
+`-a`. Processing instructions and comments in the XML files are ignored unless
+the `-p` and `-P` options are used. The `-C` option preserves color and
+formatting codes when piping output
 through [GNU less](http://www.gnu.org/software/less/) or similar programs.
 
 The options `-c`, `-l`, `-L`, `-n`, and `-q` mimic the behaviour of
diff --git a/xgrep.py b/xgrep.py
--- a/xgrep.py
+++ b/xgrep.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/python3
 # xgrep.py -- search for elements in XML files, using XPath 1.0 expressions
-# Andreas Nolda 2021-06-25
+# Andreas Nolda 2022-05-11
 
 import sys
 import argparse
@@ -35,6 +35,10 @@
                     help="output line number of match start")
 parser.add_argument("-N", "--declare-ns", action="store_true",
                     help="declare namespaces in matches")
+parser.add_argument("-p", "--pis", action="store_true",
+                    help="preserve processing-instructions in output")
+parser.add_argument("-P", "--comments", action="store_true",
+                    help="preserve comments in output")
 parser.add_argument("-q", "--quiet", action="store_true",
                     help="only return exit status")
 parser.add_argument("-r", "--regex", metavar="ns",
@@ -170,7 +174,9 @@
     e = False
     for file in args.files:
         try:
-            xml_parser = etree.XMLParser(remove_blank_text=args.indent)
+            xml_parser = etree.XMLParser(remove_blank_text=args.indent,
+                                         remove_comments=not args.comments,
+                                         remove_pis=not args.pis)
             tree = etree.parse(file, xml_parser)
             root = tree.getroot()
             # cf. https://stackoverflow.com/q/4210730: