Read an XML file with tags and indentation into a python variable [duplicate]

Question

Is there a way to read an entire XML file into a Python variable with tags and indentation?

data = """<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<uimap>
    <page name="login">
        <uielement name="username">
             <locator>//input[@type='text']</locator>
        </uielement>
        <uielement name="password">
            <locator>//input[@type='password']</locator>
        </uielement>
    </page>
</uimap>
"""

This was a short example so I could manually type it in but if my XML files are really big, how can I read them into a python variable? Using fopen is not an option because it is reading all font size and styles too which is redundant in my case.

Can you read in XML files in Python? Yes. You'll have to be a bit more specific if you are stuck on something in particular, as it stands this question is very broad. If you want to keep the tags, you might as well just read it as a text file. — Cory Kramer
– Cory Kramer, Commented Aug 13, 2014 at 23:18
Please edit your post with this content. All the formatting is lost when you paste it into the comment section. — Cory Kramer
– Cory Kramer, Commented Aug 13, 2014 at 23:20
Why are indents necessary after you read it in, or are you planning to store it in a string? — MxLDevs
– MxLDevs, Commented Aug 13, 2014 at 23:29
I would imagine you would only need the indents to output it. In the case you might want to look at this question here: stackoverflow.com/questions/749796/… — ashwinjv
– ashwinjv, Commented Aug 14, 2014 at 0:07
MxyL - I need to process the tags which is why I need them all stored as a string. — user2921139
– user2921139, Commented Aug 14, 2014 at 4:36

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 10:26:18Z

2

import xml.dom.minidom

xmlObject = xml.dom.minidom.parse(xml_fname) # or xml.dom.minidom.parseString(xml_string)
pretty_xml_as_string = xmlObject.toprettyxml()
print(pretty_xml_as_string)

Answer taken from here: Pretty printing XML in Python

This adds extra newlines. If you want the output to exactly look like your data you can try this:

import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET

xmlObject = ET.parse(xml_fname) # or ET.fromstring(xml_string)
pretty_xml_as_string = ET.tostring(xmlObject).decode()
print(pretty_xml_as_string)

Please note that this is for Python3.

[OP EDIT:] This is the one that worked for me

import lxml.etree as etree 
x = etree.parse("filename") 
print etree.tostring(x, pretty_print = True)

edited May 23, 2017 at 10:26

CommunityBot

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answered Aug 14, 2014 at 0:10

ashwinjv

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9 Comments

user2921139 Over a year ago

Ashwin - that did not work. I get the output like this "u'<?xml version="1.0" ?>\n<?mso-application progid="Word.Document"?>\n<w:wordDocument w:embeddedObjPresent="no" w:macrosPresent="no" w:ocxPresent="no" xml:space="preserve" xmlns:aml="schemas.microsoft.com/aml/2001/core" xmlns:dt="uuid:C2F41010-65B3-11d1-A29F-00AA00C14882" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:sl="schemas.microsoft.com/schemaLibrary/2003/core"....

user2921139 Over a year ago

import lxml.etree as etree x = etree.parse("filename") print etree.tostring(x, pretty_print = True)

user2921139 Over a year ago

- I tried this but the output I get is something like this <w:r> <w:rPr> <w:rFonts w:ascii="Monaco" w:h-ansi="Monaco" w:cs="Monaco"/> <wx:font wx:val="Monaco"/> <w:sz w:val="22"/> <w:sz-cs w:val="22"/> <w:u w:val="single"/> </w:rPr> <w:t></uielement></w:t> </w:r> <w:r> <w:rPr> <w:rFonts w:ascii="Monaco" w:h-ansi="Monaco" w:cs="Monaco"/> <wx:font wx:val="Monaco"/> <w:sz w:val="22"/> <w:sz-cs w:val="22"/>

ashwinjv Over a year ago

Can you give me details on your xml? I tried this with data being the variable you specified in the question: >>> import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET >>> x = ET.fromstring(data) >>> print(ET.tostring(x).decode()) <uimap> <page name="login"> <uielement name="username"> <locator>//input[@type='text']</locator> </uielement> <uielement name="password"> <locator>//input[@type='password']</locator> </uielement> </page> </uimap> >>>

ashwinjv Over a year ago

Wish they would allow formatting in comments. Anyhow, when you try that, you get the string data as you specified on top with the correct formatting and indent.

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