Python Lxml - Append a existing xml with new data

Question

I am new to python/lxml After reading the lxml site and dive into python I could not find the solution to my n00b troubles. I have the below xml sample:

---------------
<addressbook>
    <person>
        <name>Eric Idle</name>
        <phone type='fix'>999-999-999</phone>
        <phone type='mobile'>555-555-555</phone>
        <address>
            <street>12, spam road</street>
            <city>London</city>
            <zip>H4B 1X3</zip>
        </address>
    </person>
</addressbook>
-------------------------------

I am trying to append one child to the root element and write the entire file back out as a new xml or over write the existing xml. Currently all I am writing is one line.

from lxml import etree
tree = etree.parse('addressbook.xml')
root = tree.getroot()
oSetroot = etree.Element(root.tag)
NewSub = etree.SubElement ( oSetroot, 'CREATE_NEW_SUB' )
doc = etree.ElementTree (oSetroot)
doc.write ( 'addressbook1.xml' )

TIA

note that I edited your Q to format the code and XML legibly -- while writing a Q which contains code (or the like, like XML), highlight those blocks and click the icon that looks like a little square of 0s and 1s on the line of icons just above your text -- this is the simplest way to achieve the formatting (just indenting the whole block by four spaces and ensuring there are empty lines before and after is equivalent -- that's what clicking the icon does for you, btw;-). — Alex Martelli
– Alex Martelli, Commented Sep 6, 2010 at 2:37
@Alex, Thank you, so much to learn in so little time +1000 to you sir — Nathaniel Dickerson
– Nathaniel Dickerson, Commented Sep 6, 2010 at 4:46

Alex Martelli · Accepted Answer · 2010-09-06 02:35:39Z

17

You could make a new tree by copying over all of the old one (not just the root tag!-), but it's much simpler to edit the existing tree in-place (and, why not?-)...:

tree = etree.parse('addressbook.xml')
root = tree.getroot()
NewSub = etree.SubElement ( root, 'CREATE_NEW_SUB' )
tree.write ( 'addressbook1.xml' )

which puts in addressbook1.xml:

<addressbook>
    <person>
        <name>Eric Idle</name>
        <phone type="fix">999-999-999</phone>
        <phone type="mobile">555-555-555</phone>
        <address>
            <street>12, spam road</street>
            <city>London</city>
            <zip>H4B 1X3</zip>
        </address>
    </person>
<CREATE_NEW_SUB /></addressbook>

(which I hope is the effect you're looking for...?-)

answered Sep 6, 2010 at 2:35

Alex Martelli

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2 Comments

Nathaniel Dickerson Over a year ago

Yes it is exactly! Bashing head on table Thank you!

Alex Martelli Over a year ago

@Nathaniel, you're welcome! Once you've tried the answer's suggestion out, if it works well and has thus helped you, remember to "accept" the answer (by clicking on the checkmark-shaped icon on the answer's left) -- that's core stack-overflow etiquette!-).

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