Python - Iterate through CSV rows and create XML string

Question

I have a CSV file that contains a header row followed by a potentially unlimited number of rows with values. For example:

FieldA,FieldB,FieldC,FieldD
1,asdf,2,ghjk
3,qwer,4,yuio
5,slslkd,,aldkjslkj

What I need to do is for each row, create a quasi-XML string where the elements are labeled as the column name and information within each element is the value of the cell. Using the above as an example, if I iterate through each of the three rows I would end up with these three strings:

<FieldA>1</FieldA><FieldB>asdf</FieldB><FieldC>2</FieldC><FieldD>ghjk</FieldD>

<FieldA>3</FieldA><FieldB>qwer</FieldB><FieldC>4</FieldC><FieldD>yuio</FieldD>

<FieldA>5</FieldA><FieldB>slslkd</FieldB><FieldD>aldkjslkj</FieldD>

The way I am currently doing is is:

for row in r:
    if row['FieldA']:
        fielda = '<FieldA>{0}</FieldA>'.format(row['FieldA'])
    else:
        fielda = ''

    if row['FieldB']:
        fieldb = '<FieldB>{0}</FieldB>'.format(row['FieldB'])
    else:
        fieldb = ''

    if row['FieldC']:
        fieldc = '<FieldC>{0}</FieldC>'.format(row['FieldC'])
    else:
        fieldc = ''

    if row['FieldD']:
        fieldd = '<FieldD>{0}</FieldD>'.format(row['FieldD'])
    else:
        fieldd = ''

    # Compile the string
    final_string = fielda + fieldb + fieldc + fieldd

    # Process further
    do_something(final_string)

As it iterates through each row, this creates the appropriate string and then I can pass it on for further processing.

Is there a better way to achieve what I want, or is my approach the best way? My guess is there is a better, more Pythonic, and more efficient way, but I'm new-ish to Python.

Thanks.

SlickRick · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-25 02:19:26Z

2

Slightly modified code that fixed the issue I was having. Turned out to be pretty trivial:

with open(csv_file) as f:
    for row in csv.DictReader(f):
        top = Element('event')
        for k, v in row.items():
            child = SubElement(top, k)
            child.text = v
        print tostring(top)

Thanks for the help!

answered Jun 25, 2015 at 2:19

SlickRick

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Ami Tavory · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-24 21:24:39Z

1

Python is Batteries Included.

In this case, you can use the csv module and the xml module, with code that looks like this:

# CSV module
import csv
# Stuff from the XML module
from xml.etree.ElementTree import Element, SubElement, tostring

# Topmost XML element
top = Element('top')
# Open a file
with open('stuff.csv') as csvfile:
    # And use a dictionary-reader
    for d in csv.DictReader(csvfile)
        # For each mapping in the dictionary
        for (k, v) in d.iteritems():
            # Create an XML node
            child = SubElement(top, k)
            child.text = v
print tostring(top)

edited Jun 24, 2015 at 21:24

answered Jun 24, 2015 at 21:14

Ami Tavory

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1 Comment

SlickRick Over a year ago

Thanks. I feel simple minded because I'm not sure I would have thought of that, and obviously I didn't. Is a top element required? When I send this on to processing I need it to start with <FieldA>, not <top>. Also, this concatenates the string results of all the rows, but I need a separate string for each row. I thought it was the indentation of the print statement, but doesnt seem to be the case. So ideally, row 1 would be its own XML string, row 2 would be its own, etc in the same format.

burmer · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-25 14:21:35Z

-1

'Top' is just the highest level node -- you could use whatever text you want to wrap the whole document.

You can pretty-print it pretty simply as well: http://pymotw.com/2/xml/etree/ElementTree/create.html#pretty-printing-xml

answered Jun 25, 2015 at 14:21

burmer

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