Replace multiple texts with their corresponding texts in XML using Python

Question

How can I replace Japanese texts between with their corresponding English texts? I have a hundreds of AliasName that I need to replace. Since I am new to python and XML, a step by step instruction would be greatly appreciated.

Here is how my xml file looks like:

<Workspace>
    <Dataset>
        <DataElement>
            <Name>POP</Name>
            <Fields>
                <Field>
                    <Name>State</Name>
                    <AliasName>?</AliasName>  # replace to  <AliasName>State</AliasName>
                </Field>
                <Field>
                    <Name>City</Name>
                    <AliasName>??</AliasName>  # replace to <AliasName>City</AliasName>
                </Field>
            (...)

Here is how far I have came. I created a dictionary, hoping that I can use it for replace(?)

>>> x = ("State", "州", "City", "都市", "Town", "町")
>>> dic = dict(x[n:n+2] for n in xrange(0, len(x), 2))
>>> print dic   # Japanese appears strange in python GUI
{'Town': '\x92\xac', 'City':'\x93s\x8es', 'State': '\x8fB'}

I also managed to select and display all Japanese texts between <AliasName></AliasName>.

from xml.dom import minidom
xdoc = minidom.parse(r"D:\Desktop\python\src\sample.xml")
workspace = xdoc.getElementsByTagName("AliasName")
for i, element in enumerate(workspace):
    print (i, element.childNodes[0].data)

Fom here I am stuck. How can I replace and save updates on xml?

jfs · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-13 09:48:56Z

2

Use Unicode strings. Define source encoding at the top of the module.
You could use ElementTree instead of minidom. It has nicer API.

Example

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
import xml.etree.cElementTree as etree

en2jp = {u"State": u"州", u"City": u"都市", u"Town": u"町"} # English -> Japanese

tree = etree.parse(filename)
for field in tree.iterfind('.//Fields/Field'):
    name, alias = [field.find(tag) for tag in ['Name', 'AliasName']]
    if name is None or name.text is None or alias is None: continue
    alias.text = en2jp.get(name.text.strip(), alias.text)
tree.write('output.xml', encoding='utf-8')

You don't need a dictionary to set text of <AliasName> to be equal to the text of <Name> tag from the same <Field>:

#!/usr/bin/env python
import xml.etree.cElementTree as etree

tree = etree.parse("input.xml")
for field in tree.iterfind('.//Fields/FieldArray/Field'):
    name, alias = [field.find(tag) for tag in ['Name', 'AliasName']]
    if name is None or alias is None: 
       continue # skip if either <Name> or <AliasName> are not found
    alias.text = name.text # set <AliasName> text to be the same as <Name>

tree.write('output.xml', encoding='utf-8')

edited Nov 13, 2011 at 9:48

answered Nov 3, 2011 at 8:23

jfs

417k210 gold badges1k silver badges1.7k bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

14 Comments

fairyberry Over a year ago

Wow. A few questions. What if the field has 8 children? Does it make difference in how you write?

jfs Over a year ago

@user1027101: I've updated the answer. See code after # or line.

fairyberry Over a year ago

@Sebastian:Thank you so much for your updates!! Now I am trying to go over but it does not let me. I get syntax error saying its invalid..when "I enter from xml.etree.cElementTree as etree"

jfs Over a year ago

@user1027101: I've fixed a couple of typos. You might try to fix such errors yourself. Simple errors could help you to familiarize yourself with how the code works. I've run the code with example input It behaves as expected, but it doesn't follow requirements from the question. You should be able to change it at this point.

fairyberry Over a year ago

@Sebastian：Thank you so much for your help. After I gave a couple of tries with your example, I finally got it work! Very very exciting. Now I am moving onto my work! Well, your help is greatly appreciated!

|

W0bble · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-03 08:10:03Z

0

what about using the string.replace() Function?

string.replace(str, old, new[, maxreplace]) Return a copy of string str with all occurrences of substring old replaced by new. If the optional argument maxreplace is given, the first maxreplace occurrences are replaced.

answered Nov 3, 2011 at 8:10

W0bble

7671 gold badge9 silver badges24 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Replace multiple texts with their corresponding texts in XML using Python

2 Answers 2

Example

14 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Example

14 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related