Python: Find Unique XML Attributes

Question

I have a XML file with a structure similar to this

<records>
    <record something="this" name="ABC"/>
    <record something="this" name="DEF"/>
    <record name="ABC"  something="this"/>
    <record name="GHI"  something="this"/>
    <record something="this" name="ABC/>

What I am looking for is a Python script to bring back all unique attribute values with the attribute name of name i.e.

ABC
DEF
GHI

The script runs fine when I put the filename in myself but when it is passed through as a parameter, it falls over.

from xml.dom import minidom
import sys
print sys.argv[1]
xmldoc = minidom.parse('/root/%s.xml' % sys.argv[1])
itemlist = list(xmldoc.getElementsByTagName('record'))
itemlist.sort()
for s in itemlist :
    if s.hasAttribute("name"):
        print s.attributes['name'].value

However it is still not bring back unique values

Do you have to use minidom?

Padraic Cunningham
– Padraic Cunningham

2016-04-15 20:36:34 +00:00
Commented Apr 15, 2016 at 20:36 — Padraic Cunningham
– Padraic Cunningham, Commented Apr 15, 2016 at 20:36
No. As long as it works.

pee2pee
– pee2pee

2016-04-15 20:37:38 +00:00
Commented Apr 15, 2016 at 20:37 — pee2pee
– pee2pee, Commented Apr 15, 2016 at 20:37
So basically you want a set of names?

Padraic Cunningham
– Padraic Cunningham

2016-04-15 20:44:03 +00:00
Commented Apr 15, 2016 at 20:44 — Padraic Cunningham
– Padraic Cunningham, Commented Apr 15, 2016 at 20:44
All sorted - will give answer in a moment

pee2pee
– pee2pee

2016-04-15 20:44:46 +00:00
Commented Apr 15, 2016 at 20:44 — pee2pee
– pee2pee, Commented Apr 15, 2016 at 20:44

Padraic Cunningham · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-15 20:53:57Z

2

A simple way is to use a set and then sort:

Using lxml:

x = """<records>
<record something="this" name="ABC"/>
<record something="this" name="DEF"/>
<record name="ABC"  something="this"/>
<record name="ABC"  something="this"/>
<record name="GHI"  something="this"/>
<record noname="ijk"  something="this"/>
<record noname="lmn"  something="this"/>
<record noname="xyz"  something="this"/>
</records>"""

from lxml.etree import  fromstring
tree = fromstring(x)

print(sorted({n.get("name") for n in tree.findall(".//record[@name]")}))

Using xml:

from xml.etree import ElementTree as et

tree = et.fromstring(x)

print(sorted({n.get("name") for n in tree.findall(".//record[@name]")}))

Both give you:

['ABC', 'DEF', 'GHI']

Use parse with your own code:

from xml.etree import ElementTree as et
import sys
print sys.argv[1]
xmldoc = et.parse('/root/%s.xml' % sys.argv[1])

print(sorted({n.get("name") for n in xmldoc.findall(".//record[@name]")}))

edited Apr 15, 2016 at 20:53

answered Apr 15, 2016 at 20:46

Padraic Cunningham

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1 Comment

pee2pee Over a year ago

ImportError: cannot import name parse

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