How to add xml tag which contains ":" in Python

Question

I have to add tag which contains a colon ':' symbol, but python does not like it:

The code I have is:

temp = etree.SubElement(OTHER, 'IDS:OwnedPropertyRentNetCust')
    temp.text = 'true'

It returns next error:

Invalid tag name u'IDS:OwnedPropertyRentNetCust'

How do I create an element with a colon?

Final tag has to be:

<IDS:OwnedPropertyRentNetCust>

Please see the following: stackoverflow.com/questions/38349579/… — Jimmy Lee Jones
– Jimmy Lee Jones, Commented Mar 28, 2018 at 14:55

Mads Hansen · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-28 15:34:33Z

3

XML elements that have the colon : are bound to a namespace and are using a namespace-prefix. The value before the : is the namespace-prefix, which is like a variable referencing a namespace value.

There are a couple of ways to create an element bound to a namespace.

Instead of a string for the element name, you can provide a QName():

from xml.etree import ElementTree as ET
IDS_NS   =  "http://whatever/the/IDS/namespace/value/is" #adjust this to the real IDS NS
ET.register_namespace("IDS", IDS_NS) 
et.SubElement(root, et.QName(IDS_NS, "OwnedPropertyRentNetCust"))

Use Clark notation, which includes the namespace and the element's local-name() in the string value:

from xml.etree import ElementTree as ET
IDS_NS   =  "http://whatever/the/IDS/namespace/value/is"
ET.register_namespace("IDS", IDS_NS) 
et.SubElement(root, "{http://whatever/the/IDS/namespace/value/is}OwnedPropertyRentNetCust")

answered Mar 28, 2018 at 15:34

Mads Hansen

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3 Comments

Igor Tischenko Over a year ago

this will add a xmlns: to tag, I don't need it.

Mads Hansen Over a year ago

In order for an element to have an XML namespace prefix, it must be bound to a namespace (even if that is empty), or it must be declared on an ancestor element. If not, then it isn’t valid we’ll-formed XML and will have a hard time trying to make it with XML apis

user3349907 Over a year ago

How did you add the ':' to your xml?

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