Search for an XML node in a parent by string with python

Question

I'm working with python xml.dom. I'm looking for a particular method that takes in a node and string and returns the xml node that is is named string. I can't find it in the documentation

I'm thinking it would work something like this

nodeObject =parent.FUNCTION('childtoFind')

where the nodeObject is under the parent

Or barring the existence of such a method, is there a way I can make the string a node object?

Any specific reason you cannot use the ElementTree API instead? — Martijn Pieters
– Martijn Pieters, Commented Feb 11, 2013 at 21:24

Martijn Pieters · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-11 21:34:34Z

1

You are looking for the .getElementsByTagname() function:

nodeObjects = parent.getElementsByTagname('childtoFind')

It returns a list; if you need only one node, use indexing:

nodeObject = parent.getElementsByTagname('childtoFind')[0]

You really want to use the ElementTree API instead, it's easier to use. Even the minidom documentation makes this recommendation:

Users who are not already proficient with the DOM should consider using the xml.etree.ElementTree module for their XML processing instead.

The ElementTree API has a .find() function that let's you find the first matching descendant:

element = parent.find('childtoFind')

edited Feb 11, 2013 at 21:34

answered Feb 11, 2013 at 21:27

Martijn Pieters

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1 Comment

user856358 Over a year ago

Thank you, this is helpful. I was hoping it wasn't in the documentation. I didn't see the ElementTreeAPI thing directly referenced in the documentation. I'll take a look at it.

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