Modify element text with loop in xml file using python

Question

I have been doing some modifications on an .xml file using python and lxml library and ElementTree. I have this result:

<component xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.orgr">
  <memoryMaps>
    <memoryMap>
      <name>name</name>
      <description>description</description>
      <peripheral>
        <name>periph</name>
        <description>description</description>
        <baseAddress>0x0</baseAddress>
        <range>0x8</range>
        <width>32</width>
        <registers>
          <register>
            <name>reg1</name>
            <displayName>1</displayName>
            ....
          </register>                           
          <register>
            <name>reg2</name>
            <displayName>1</displayName>
              .................
           </register>
           <register>
            <name>reg3</name>
            <displayName>1</displayName>
             ..................
           </register>
       </registers>      
      </peripheral>
    </memoryMap>
  </memoryMaps>
</component>

what I want now is in every 'register' to have 'name' and 'displayName' with same text (by copying the text of name in the displayName) like this:

<registers>
      <register>
        <name>reg1</name>
        <displayName>reg1</displayName>
        ....
      </register>                           
      <register>
        <name>reg2</name>
        <displayName>reg2</displayName>
          .................
       </register>
       <register>
        <name>reg3</name>
        <displayName>reg3</displayName>
         ..................
       </register>
   </registers>

I tried a code like this after parsing my file:

 for register in root.findall('.//register'):  
    tempo = register.find('.//name').text    
    for EL in root.iter('displayName'):
        EL.text = tempo

This seems to replace only in the last register correctly, and the rest of registers have wrong display name. I know I have a problem with my loop maybe?

Please advice Thank you!

Andrej Kesely · Accepted Answer · 2020-10-27 22:05:56Z

2

from lxml import etree

root = etree.parse(r'<your file.xml>')

for name in root.xpath('//name[./following-sibling::displayName]'):
    name.getnext().text = name.text

print( etree.tostring(root, pretty_print=True).decode('utf-8') )

Prints:

<component xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.orgr">
  <memoryMaps>
    <memoryMap>
      <name>name</name>
      <description>description</description>
      <peripheral>
        <name>periph</name>
        <description>description</description>
        <baseAddress>0x0</baseAddress>
        <range>0x8</range>
        <width>32</width>
        <registers>
          <register>
            <name>reg1</name>
            <displayName>reg1</displayName>
            ....
          </register>                           
          <register>
            <name>reg2</name>
            <displayName>reg2</displayName>
              .................
           </register>
           <register>
            <name>reg3</name>
            <displayName>reg3</displayName>
             ..................
           </register>
       </registers>      
      </peripheral>
    </memoryMap>
  </memoryMaps>
</component>

answered Oct 27, 2020 at 22:05

Andrej Kesely

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2 Comments

Imen Over a year ago

It is possible you give me more references or link to look on using this method like what is opposite for 'following-sibling' to reference the element before ? This seems interesting!

Andrej Kesely Over a year ago

@Imen It's xpath - there are many tutorials online, but I find this one useful (because I've already know CSS) devhints.io/xpath

yazz · Accepted Answer · 2020-10-28 01:33:27Z

Recommend you a simple library.

from simplified_scrapy import SimplifiedDoc, utils
# xml = utils.getFileContent('your xml path')
xml = '''
        <registers>
          <register>
            <name>reg1</name>
            <displayName>1</displayName>
            ....
          </register>                           
          <register>
            <name>reg2</name>
            <displayName>1</displayName>
              .................
           </register>
           <register>
            <name>reg3</name>
            <displayName>1</displayName>
             ..................
           </register>
       </registers>
'''
doc = SimplifiedDoc(xml)  # create doc
registers = doc.selects('register')

for r in registers:
    r.displayName.setContent(r.name.html)

# Or
names = doc.selects('register>name')

for n in names:
    n.setContent(n.next.html)

    # Or
    # n.setContent(n.getNext('displayName').html)

print(doc.html)

Result:

    <registers>
      <register>
        <name>reg1</name>
        <displayName>reg1</displayName>
        ....
      </register>                           
      <register>
        <name>reg2</name>
        <displayName>reg2</displayName>
          .................
       </register>
       <register>
        <name>reg3</name>
        <displayName>reg3</displayName>
         ..................
       </register>
   </registers>

Here are more examples. This lib is easy to use.

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