Gavin Wiggins

Parsing XML with Python

Written on November 8, 2022

There are several XML parsers available in the Python standard library. Below is an example of using the ElementTree module.

<!-- Example XML file named sample.xml -->

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Tests xmlns="http://www.adatum.com">
  <Test TestId="0001" TestType="CMD">
    <Name>Convert number to string</Name>
    <CommandLine>Examp1.EXE</CommandLine>
    <Input>1</Input>
    <Output>One</Output>
  </Test>
  <Test TestId="0002" TestType="CMD">
    <Name>Find succeeding characters</Name>
    <CommandLine>Examp2.EXE</CommandLine>
    <Input>abc</Input>
    <Output>def</Output>
  </Test>
  <Test TestId="0003" TestType="GUI">
    <Name>Convert multiple numbers to strings</Name>
    <CommandLine>Examp2.EXE /Verbose</CommandLine>
    <Input>123</Input>
    <Output>One Two Three</Output>
  </Test>
  <Test TestId="0004" TestType="GUI">
    <Name>Find correlated key</Name>
    <CommandLine>Examp3.EXE</CommandLine>
    <Input>a1</Input>
    <Output>b1</Output>
  </Test>
  <Test TestId="0005" TestType="GUI">
    <Name>Count characters</Name>
    <CommandLine>FinalExamp.EXE</CommandLine>
    <Input>This is a test</Input>
    <Output>14</Output>
  </Test>
  <Test TestId="0006" TestType="GUI">
    <Name>Another Test</Name>
    <CommandLine>Examp2.EXE</CommandLine>
    <Input>Test Input</Input>
    <Output>10</Output>
  </Test>
</Tests>

"""
Example of parsing an XML file named sample.xml and printing the parsed data
to the screen.
"""

import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET

with open('sample.xml') as file:
    tree = ET.parse(file)
    root = tree.getroot()

for rt in root:
    testid = rt.attrib['TestId']
    testtype = rt.attrib['TestType']
    name = rt[0].text
    cmdline = rt[1].text
    enput = rt[2].text
    output = rt[3].text

    print(
        '---\n'
        f'TestId        {testid}\n'
        f'TestType      {testtype}\n'
        f'Name          {name}\n'
        f'CommandLine   {cmdline}\n'
        f'Input         {enput}\n'
        f'Output        {output}\n'
        '---\n')

Running the above example in the terminal prints the following:

---
TestId        0001
TestType      CMD
Name          Convert number to string
CommandLine   Examp1.EXE
Input         1
Output        One
---

---
TestId        0002
TestType      CMD
Name          Find succeeding characters
CommandLine   Examp2.EXE
Input         abc
Output        def
---

---
TestId        0003
TestType      GUI
Name          Convert multiple numbers to strings
CommandLine   Examp2.EXE /Verbose
Input         123
Output        One Two Three
---

---
TestId        0004
TestType      GUI
Name          Find correlated key
CommandLine   Examp3.EXE
Input         a1
Output        b1
---

---
TestId        0005
TestType      GUI
Name          Count characters
CommandLine   FinalExamp.EXE
Input         This is a test
Output        14
---

---
TestId        0006
TestType      GUI
Name          Another Test
CommandLine   Examp2.EXE
Input         Test Input
Output        10
---

Gavin Wiggins

Parsing XML with Python

Written on November 8, 2022

Further reading