How to write an xml file using libxml2 in python?

Question

I am attempting to write an xml file in python3 using libxml2. I cannot find any relevant documentation regarding python about writing files with libxml. When I attempt to write an xml file parsed with libxml2 I get the error:

xmlDoc has no attribute write

Anyone here done this before? I can get it to work in Etree just fine but Etree will not respect the attribute order that I need.

Are you able to use lxml? It uses libxml2 (and libxslt). It's also easy to write to a file by using the write() method of the ElementTree object. — Daniel Haley
– Daniel Haley, Commented Jul 16, 2019 at 2:54
Sadly not :( It's an older linux system for work and I can't get lxml on to the system. — brayfalls
– brayfalls, Commented Jul 16, 2019 at 14:32
Please discuss your overall needs and not the specific tools. Python maintains xml.etree.ElementTree as part of its standard library and can easily develop XML files. — Parfait
– Parfait, Commented Jul 16, 2019 at 15:11
For my specific need and python version I needed a way to parse the xml files while respecting the attribute order, I am not able to download anything else nor perform a patch of etree, I'm basically limited to libxml2. I just cannot seem to write files parsed by it. — brayfalls
– brayfalls, Commented Jul 16, 2019 at 15:32

mzjn · Accepted Answer · 2019-07-16 14:57:21Z

4

You can use saveFile() or saveFileEnc(). Example:

import libxml2

XML = """
<root a="1" b="2">XYZ</root>
"""

doc = libxml2.parseDoc(XML)

doc.saveFile("test.xml")
doc.saveFileEnc("test2.xml", "UTF-8")

I could not find any good documentation for the Python API. Here is the corresponding C documentation: http://xmlsoft.org/html/libxml-tree.html#xmlSaveFile.

answered Jul 16, 2019 at 14:57

mzjn

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OfficialAhmed · Accepted Answer · 2019-07-15 20:26:59Z

1

import libxml2



DOC = """<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<verse>

  <attribution>Christopher Okibgo</attribution>

  <line>For he was a shrub among the poplars,</line>

  <line>Needing more roots</line>

  <line>More sap to grow to sunlight,</line>

  <line>Thirsting for sunlight</line>

</verse>

"""



doc = libxml2.parseDoc(DOC)

root = doc.children

print root

answered Jul 15, 2019 at 20:26

OfficialAhmed

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4 Comments

brayfalls Over a year ago

This does re-print the XML file, but how would you take this output and rewrite it as an actual .XML file in your path?

OfficialAhmed Over a year ago

You can write file = open("filename.xml", "w+") then start writing in it using file.write()

brayfalls Over a year ago

That gives the same error I mentioned above, the 'xmlDoc object has no attribute 'write''.

OfficialAhmed Over a year ago

Sorry I haven't really dealt with XML files but you can read this article that I found helpful for your situation stackabuse.com/reading-and-writing-xml-files-in-python there are all examples you may look for using a module for it to work

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