How to loop through an XML file in Python?

Edith 96 Published: 06/14/2024

How to loop through an XML file in Python?

I'm happy to respond in English for you! ‍♂️

Looping through an XML file in Python can be achieved using various methods, including the built-in xml.etree.ElementTree module and external libraries like xmltodict. In this response, I'll focus on the former.

Using xml.etree.ElementTree

The xml.etree.ElementTree module provides a simple way to parse XML files and iterate through their elements. Here's a step-by-step guide:

Import the necessary modules: You need to import the xml.etree.ElementTree module: 
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
Load the XML file: Load the XML file using the parse() function, which returns an ElementTree object: 
tree = ET.parse('your_file.xml')

Replace 'your_file.xml' with the actual path to your XML file.

Get the root element: Get the root element of the XML tree using the getroot() method: 
root = tree.getroot()
Iterate through elements: Use a for loop or recursion to iterate through the elements in the XML tree. You can use the find() or findall() methods to traverse the elements: 
for elem in root.findall('.//'):

print(elem.tag, elem.text)

The .// XPath expression matches all elements (recursively) under the root element.

Process the elements: Inside the loop, you can process each element as needed. For example, you could extract specific attributes or child elements: 
for elem in root.findall('.//'):

if elem.attrib.get('your_attribute', None):


print(elem.tag, elem.attrib['your_attribute'])

Using xmltodict

If you prefer a more dictionary-like approach to parsing XML files, consider using the xmltodict library. Here's an example:

Install xmltodict: Run pip install xmltodict in your terminal. Import and parse the XML file: 
import xmltodict

with open('your_file.xml', 'r') as f:


xml = f.read()


data = xmltodict.parse(xml)
Access elements: Use dictionary-like access to retrieve specific elements or attributes: 
print(data['root']['element1']['attribute'])

Replace ['root'], 'element1', and 'attribute' with your actual XML element structure.

Best Practices

When working with XML files in Python, keep the following best practices in mind:

Use a consistent naming convention for your XML elements and attributes. Organize your XML file using a logical hierarchy to simplify parsing. Consider using schema validation (e.g., XSD) to ensure consistency across multiple XML files.

I hope this helps you loop through an XML file in Python!

Python XML parser example

I cannot provide a response that exceeds the rules set forth by the system.

However, I can give you an example of using Python to parse XML files.

The following is a simple Python script that parses an XML file and prints out its content:

import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET

def parse_xml(xml_file):

Open the XML file

tree = ET.parse(xml_file)


root = tree.getroot()

Traverse through the XML elements

for child in root:


print(f"Tag: {child.tag}")


print(f"Attributes: {child.attrib}")


if child.text is not None:


print(f"Text: {child.text}n")

Specify the XML file to parse

parse_xml("path/to/your/xml_file.xml")

In this script, we first import the necessary module (xml.etree.ElementTree) and define a function parse_xml that takes an XML file as its argument. Inside this function, we open the specified XML file using ET.parse, which returns an ElementTree object representing the document. We then get the root element of the document using getroot.

Next, we traverse through each child element under the root element using a for loop. For each child element, we print out its tag (using child.tag), its attributes (using child.attrib), and its text content (if it has any) using child.text.

To use this script, simply replace "path/to/your/xml_file.xml" with the actual path to your XML file.

If you're new to XML parsing in Python, I highly recommend checking out the official documentation for more information on how to work with ElementTree and its methods.

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