diff --git a/count-substring.mjs b/count-substring.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3767260
--- /dev/null
+++ b/count-substring.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+export default function countSubstring(string, substring) {
+  const pattern = new RegExp(substring, "g");
+  const match = string.match(pattern);
+  return match ? match.length : 0;
+}
diff --git a/find-tag-by-name.mjs b/find-tag-by-name.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f79a400
--- /dev/null
+++ b/find-tag-by-name.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+import indexOfMatch from "./index-of-match.mjs";
+import indexOfMatchEnd from "./index-of-match-end.mjs";
+import countSubstring from "./count-substring.mjs";
+
+export default function findTagByName(xml, tagName, options) {
+  const debug = (options && options.debug) || false;
+  const nested = !(options && typeof options.nested === false);
+
+  const startIndex = (options && options.startIndex) || 0;
+
+  if (debug) console.log("[xml-utils] starting findTagByName with", tagName, " and ", options);
+
+  const start = indexOfMatch(xml, `\<${tagName}[ \n\>\/]`, startIndex);
+  if (debug) console.log("[xml-utils] start:", start);
+  if (start === -1) return undefined;
+
+  const afterStart = xml.slice(start + tagName.length);
+
+  let relativeEnd = indexOfMatchEnd(afterStart, "^[^<]*[ /]>", 0);
+
+  const selfClosing = relativeEnd !== -1 && afterStart[relativeEnd - 1] === "/";
+  if (debug) console.log("[xml-utils] selfClosing:", selfClosing);
+
+  if (selfClosing === false) {
+    // check if tag has subtags with the same name
+    if (nested) {
+      let startIndex = 0;
+      let openings = 1;
+      let closings = 0;
+      while ((relativeEnd = indexOfMatchEnd(afterStart, "[ /]" + tagName + ">", startIndex)) !== -1) {
+        const clip = afterStart.substring(startIndex, relativeEnd + 1);
+        openings += countSubstring(clip, "<" + tagName + "[ \n\t>]");
+        closings += countSubstring(clip, "</" + tagName + ">");
+        // we can't have more openings than closings
+        if (closings >= openings) break;
+        startIndex = relativeEnd;
+      }
+    } else {
+      relativeEnd = indexOfMatchEnd(afterStart, "[ /]" + tagName + ">", 0);
+    }
+  }
+
+  const end = start + tagName.length + relativeEnd + 1;
+  if (debug) console.log("[xml-utils] end:", end);
+  if (end === -1) return undefined;
+
+  const outer = xml.slice(start, end);
+  // tag is like <gml:identifier codeSpace="OGP">urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::32617</gml:identifier>
+
+  let inner;
+  if (selfClosing) {
+    inner = null;
+  } else {
+    inner = outer.slice(outer.indexOf(">") + 1, outer.lastIndexOf("<"));
+  }
+
+  return { inner, outer, start, end };
+}
diff --git a/find-tag-by-path.mjs b/find-tag-by-path.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5c63b3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/find-tag-by-path.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+import findTagsByPath from "./find-tags-by-path.mjs";
+
+export default function findTagByPath(xml, path, options) {
+  const debug = (options && options.debug) || false;
+  const found = findTagsByPath(xml, path, { debug, returnOnFirst: true });
+  if (Array.isArray(found) && found.length === 1) return found[0];
+  else return undefined;
+}
diff --git a/find-tags-by-name.mjs b/find-tags-by-name.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a86a2b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/find-tags-by-name.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+import findTagByName from "./find-tag-by-name.mjs";
+
+export default function findTagsByName(xml, tagName, options) {
+  const tags = [];
+  const debug = (options && options.debug) || false;
+  const nested = options && typeof options.nested === "boolean" ? options.nested : true;
+  let startIndex = (options && options.startIndex) || 0;
+  let tag;
+  while ((tag = findTagByName(xml, tagName, { debug, startIndex }))) {
+    if (nested) {
+      startIndex = tag.start + 1 + tagName.length;
+    } else {
+      startIndex = tag.end;
+    }
+    tags.push(tag);
+  }
+  if (debug) console.log("findTagsByName found", tags.length, "tags");
+  return tags;
+}
diff --git a/find-tags-by-path.mjs b/find-tags-by-path.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..49e7379
--- /dev/null
+++ b/find-tags-by-path.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+import findTagsByName from "./find-tags-by-name.mjs";
+
+export default function findTagsByPath(xml, path, options) {
+  const debug = (options && options.debug) || false;
+  const returnOnFirst = (options && options.returnOnFirst) || false;
+  let tags = findTagsByName(xml, path.shift(), { debug, nested: false });
+  if (debug) console.log("first tags are:", tags);
+  for (let pathIndex = 0; pathIndex < path.length; pathIndex++) {
+    const tagName = path[pathIndex];
+    if (debug) console.log("tagName:", tagName);
+    let allSubTags = [];
+    for (let tagIndex = 0; tagIndex < tags.length; tagIndex++) {
+      const tag = tags[tagIndex];
+      const subTags = findTagsByName(tag.outer, tagName, {
+        debug,
+        startIndex: 1
+      });
+      if (debug) console.log("subTags.length:", subTags.length);
+      if (subTags.length > 0) {
+        subTags.forEach(subTag => {
+          (subTag.start += tag.start), (subTag.end += tag.start);
+        });
+        if (returnOnFirst && pathIndex === path.length - 1) return [subTags[0]];
+        allSubTags = allSubTags.concat(subTags);
+      }
+    }
+    tags = allSubTags;
+  }
+  return tags;
+}
diff --git a/get-attribute.mjs b/get-attribute.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1a7a371
--- /dev/null
+++ b/get-attribute.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+export default function getAttribute(tag, attributeName, options) {
+  const debug = (options && options.debug) || false;
+  if (debug) console.log("[xml-utils] getting " + attributeName + " in " + tag);
+
+  const xml = typeof tag === "object" ? tag.outer : tag;
+
+  // only search for attributes in the opening tag
+  const opening = xml.slice(0, xml.indexOf(">") + 1);
+
+  const quotechars = ['"', "'"];
+  for (let i = 0; i < quotechars.length; i++) {
+    const char = quotechars[i];
+    const pattern = attributeName + "\\=" + char + "([^" + char + "]*)" + char;
+    if (debug) console.log("[xml-utils] pattern:", pattern);
+
+    const re = new RegExp(pattern);
+    const match = re.exec(opening);
+    if (debug) console.log("[xml-utils] match:", match);
+    if (match) return match[1];
+  }
+}
diff --git a/index-of-match-end.mjs b/index-of-match-end.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e249e32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/index-of-match-end.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+export default function indexOfMatchEnd(xml, pattern, startIndex) {
+  const re = new RegExp(pattern);
+  const match = re.exec(xml.slice(startIndex));
+  if (match) return startIndex + match.index + match[0].length - 1;
+  else return -1;
+}
diff --git a/index-of-match.mjs b/index-of-match.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..941091b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/index-of-match.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+export default function indexOfMatch(xml, pattern, startIndex) {
+  const re = new RegExp(pattern);
+  const match = re.exec(xml.slice(startIndex));
+  if (match) return startIndex + match.index;
+  else return -1;
+}
diff --git a/index.mjs b/index.mjs
index 9c5b710..cd22086 100644
--- a/index.mjs
+++ b/index.mjs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-export { default as getAttribute } from "./get-attribute.js";
-export { default as findTagByName } from "./find-tag-by-name.js";
-export { default as findTagsByName } from "./find-tags-by-name.js";
-export { default as findTagByPath } from "./find-tag-by-path.js";
-export { default as findTagsByPath } from "./find-tags-by-path.js";
-export { default as removeComments } from "./remove-comments.js";
+export { default as getAttribute } from "./get-attribute.mjs";
+export { default as findTagByName } from "./find-tag-by-name.mjs";
+export { default as findTagsByName } from "./find-tags-by-name.mjs";
+export { default as findTagByPath } from "./find-tag-by-path.mjs";
+export { default as findTagsByPath } from "./find-tags-by-path.mjs";
+export { default as removeComments } from "./remove-comments.mjs";
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index b13cacd..849dfbc 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -44,11 +44,21 @@
     "index-of-match.js",
     "index-of-match-end.js",
     "remove-comments.js",
-    "remove-tags-by-name.js"
+    "remove-tags-by-name.js",
+    "count-substring.mjs",
+    "find-tag-by-name.mjs",
+    "find-tag-by-path.mjs",
+    "find-tags-by-name.mjs",
+    "find-tags-by-path.mjs",
+    "get-attribute.mjs",
+    "index-of-match.mjs",
+    "index-of-match-end.mjs",
+    "remove-comments.mjs",
+    "remove-tags-by-name.mjs"
   ],
   "scripts": {
     "f": "npm run format",
-    "format": "npx prettier --arrow-parens=avoid --print-width=140 --trailing-comma=none --write *.js */*.js */*.mjs */*.ts",
+    "format": "npx prettier --arrow-parens=avoid --print-width=140 --trailing-comma=none --write *.js *.mjs */*.js */*.mjs */*.ts",
     "setup": "cd test/data && bash setup.sh",
     "test": "npm run test:js && npm run test:ts && npm run test:tsc && npm run test:esm",
     "test:js": "node ./test/test.js",
diff --git a/remove-comments.mjs b/remove-comments.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..93cdcc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/remove-comments.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+export default function removeComments(xml) {
+  return xml.replace(/<!--[^]*-->/g, "");
+}
diff --git a/remove-tags-by-name.mjs b/remove-tags-by-name.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..164269a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/remove-tags-by-name.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+import findTagByName from "./find-tag-by-name.mjs";
+
+export default function removeTagsByName(xml, tagName, options) {
+  const debug = (options && options.debug) || false;
+  let tag;
+  while ((tag = findTagByName(xml, tagName, { debug }))) {
+    xml = xml.substring(0, tag.start) + xml.substring(tag.end);
+    if (debug) console.log("[xml-utils] removed:", tag);
+  }
+  return xml;
+}
diff --git a/test/test.mjs b/test/test.mjs
index 2152f30..232e0b0 100644
--- a/test/test.mjs
+++ b/test/test.mjs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import test from "flug";
 import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import { findTagByName, findTagsByName, findTagByPath, findTagsByPath, getAttribute } from "../index.mjs";
-import { default as findTagsByNameDirect } from "../find-tags-by-name.js";
+import { default as findTagsByNameDirect } from "../find-tags-by-name.mjs";
 
 const iso = readFileSync("test/data/iso.xml", "utf-8");
 const mrf = readFileSync("test/data/m_3008501_ne_16_1_20171018.mrf", "utf-8");