Parse XML to dictionary in Python

Question

I have the following xml file. I need to automate find/replace some strings in a bunch of files for different environment. I am using python 2.7. I need to pass the environment name and read the xml into a dictionary or array, which I can then use to find/replace the strings. I have tried using ElementTree, but unsure how to build dict containing old/new texts for each environment. Any suggestions please..

     <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
    <Config>
    <Environment env="Support">
      <sitedir path="d:\Support_463\REST Elements\Sites"/>
      <workflowdir path="d:\Support_463\REST 
    Elements\Sites\Resources\Workflows"/>
      <sitereplacements>
        <text old="zz-dev" new="zz-supp"/>
        <text old="yhz" new="vr"/>
        <text old="ax7" new="sh66^"/>
      </sitereplacements>
      <workflowreplacements>
        <text old="zz-dev" new="zz-suppx"/>
        <text old="yhsxz" new="v*&9r"/>
        <text old="ax7" new="(()&4fg"/>
      </workflowreplacements>
</Environment>
<Environment env="Test">
      <sitedir path="d:\Test_463\REST Elements\Sites"/>
      <workflowdir path="d:\Test_463\REST Elements\Sites\Resources\Workflows"/>
      <sitereplacements>
        <text old="zz-dev" new="zz-test"/>
        <text old="yhz" new="vxxAr"/>
        <text old="ax7" new="s8%6^"/>
      </sitereplacements>
      <workflowreplacements>
        <text old="zz-dev" new="zz-testx"/>
        <text old="yhsxz" new="vr"/>
        <text old="ax7" new="$%^"/>
      </workflowreplacements>
</Environment>
<!--<Environment env="Preprod">
      <sitedir path=""/>
      <workflowdir path=""/>
      <sitereplacements>
        <text old="" new=""/>
        <text old="" new=""/>
        <text old="" new=""/>
      </sitereplacements>
      <workflowreplacements>
        <text old="" new=""/>       
        <text old="" new=""/>
        <text old="" new=""/>
      </workflowreplacements>-->
</Environment>

You never close the <Config> tag, so this is not valid XML. — Graipher
– Graipher, Commented Feb 26, 2018 at 11:47

Rakesh · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-26 12:15:41Z

The simplest way to convert your XML to dictionary is by using the xmltodict module.

Example:

import xmltodict
s = """<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
    <Config>
    <Environment env="Support">
      <sitedir path="d:\Support_463\REST Elements\Sites"/>
      <workflowdir path="d:\Support_463\REST 
    Elements\Sites\Resources\Workflows"/>
      <sitereplacements>
        <text old="zz-dev" new="zz-supp"/>
        <text old="yhz" new="vr"/>
        <text old="ax7" new="sh66^"/>
      </sitereplacements>
      <workflowreplacements>
        <text old="zz-dev" new="zz-suppx"/>
        <text old="yhsxz" new="v9r"/>
        <text old="ax7" new="(()4fg"/>
      </workflowreplacements>
</Environment>
<Environment env="Test">
      <sitedir path="d:\Test_463\REST Elements\Sites"/>
      <workflowdir path="d:\Test_463\REST Elements\Sites\Resources\Workflows"/>
      <sitereplacements>
        <text old="zz-dev" new="zz-test"/>
        <text old="yhz" new="vxxAr"/>
        <text old="ax7" new="s8%6^"/>
      </sitereplacements>
      <workflowreplacements>
        <text old="zz-dev" new="zz-testx"/>
        <text old="yhsxz" new="vr"/>
        <text old="ax7" new="$%^"/>
      </workflowreplacements>
</Environment>
</Config>
"""
print xmltodict.parse(s)

Output:

OrderedDict([(u'Config', OrderedDict([(u'Environment', [OrderedDict([(u'@env', u'Support'), (u'sitedir', OrderedDict([(u'@path', u'd:\\Support_463\\REST Elements\\Sites')])), (u'workflowdir', OrderedDict([(u'@path', u'd:\\Support_463\\REST      Elements\\Sites\\Resources\\Workflows')])), (u'sitereplacements', OrderedDict([(u'text', [OrderedDict([(u'@old', u'zz-dev'), (u'@new', u'zz-supp')]), OrderedDict([(u'@old', u'yhz'), (u'@new', u'vr')]), OrderedDict([(u'@old', u'ax7'), (u'@new', u'sh66^')])])])), (u'workflowreplacements', OrderedDict([(u'text', [OrderedDict([(u'@old', u'zz-dev'), (u'@new', u'zz-suppx')]), OrderedDict([(u'@old', u'yhsxz'), (u'@new', u'v9r')]), OrderedDict([(u'@old', u'ax7'), (u'@new', u'(()4fg')])])]))]), OrderedDict([(u'@env', u'Test'), (u'sitedir', OrderedDict([(u'@path', u'd:\\Test_463\\REST Elements\\Sites')])), (u'workflowdir', OrderedDict([(u'@path', u'd:\\Test_463\\REST Elements\\Sites\\Resources\\Workflows')])), (u'sitereplacements', OrderedDict([(u'text', [OrderedDict([(u'@old', u'zz-dev'), (u'@new', u'zz-test')]), OrderedDict([(u'@old', u'yhz'), (u'@new', u'vxxAr')]), OrderedDict([(u'@old', u'ax7'), (u'@new', u's8%6^')])])])), (u'workflowreplacements', OrderedDict([(u'text', [OrderedDict([(u'@old', u'zz-dev'), (u'@new', u'zz-testx')]), OrderedDict([(u'@old', u'yhsxz'), (u'@new', u'vr')]), OrderedDict([(u'@old', u'ax7'), (u'@new', u'$%^')])])]))])])]))])

Nice concise answer. Too many people on similar questions overcomplicating matters. Works perfectly.

Lavanya Pant · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-26 10:58:31Z

0

You can use xml.etree.ElementTree as ET.

Check below link for more details

https://docs.python.org/2/library/xml.etree.elementtree.html

19.7.1.3. Finding interesting elements & 19.7.1.4. Modifying an XML File

answered Feb 26, 2018 at 10:58

Lavanya Pant

7027 silver badges23 bronze badges

2 Comments

eagle Over a year ago

this is a comment, not an answer

user1603842 Over a year ago

Thanks for the responses. I can now use ElementTree successfully to read this. However, am struggling with using xpath for case sensitive values xmlEl = root.find('.//Environment[@env="%s"]' %env). I would need to convert @env to lowercase and then use find.

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