Python - ElementTree- cannot use absolute path on element

Question

I'm getting this error in ElementTree when I try to run the code below:

SyntaxError: cannot use absolute path on element

My XML document looks like this:

<Scripts>
  <Script>
    <StepList>
      <Step>
        <StepText>
        </StepText>
        <StepText>
        </StepText>
      </Step>
    </StepList>
  </Script>
</Scripts>

Code:

import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET

def search():
    root = ET.parse(INPUT_FILE_PATH)
    for target in root.findall("//Script"):
        print target.attrib['name']
        print target.findall("//StepText")

I'm on Python 2.6 on Mac. Am I using Xpath syntax wrong?

Basically I want to show every Script elements name attribute if it contains a StepText element with certain text.

ElementTree seems a naff implementation. It should allow absolute paths like //SOURCE/text() — JGFMK
– JGFMK, Commented Nov 14, 2022 at 11:26

Bence Kaulics · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-19 15:54:38Z

62

Turns out I needed to say target.findall(".//StepText"). I guess anything without the '.' is considered an absolute path?

Updated working code:

def search():
    root = ET.parse(INPUT_FILE_PATH)
    for target in root.findall("//Script"):
        stepTexts = target.findall(".//StepText")
        for stepText in stepTexts:
            if FIND.lower() in stepText.text.lower():
                print target.attrib['name'],' -- ',stepText.text

edited Dec 19, 2018 at 15:54

Bence Kaulics

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answered Mar 31, 2011 at 14:27

Greg

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2 Comments

user357812 Over a year ago

Any XPath expression starting with / or // operator is an absolute expression. Besides this, that restriction (absolute expressions not allowed with other context node than root) is specific to your XPath engine implementation.

jxramos Over a year ago

@user357812 is there a way to query which engine a particular XPath implementation is using?

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