How to modify the values of designate elements in xml file with Python?

Question

There is a xml file like below:

<hh>
  <aa>
    <cc>
      <ee>
        <Name>John</Name>
      </ee>
    <cc>
      <ee>
        <Name>David</Name>
      </ee>
  </aa>
  <bb>
    <dd>
      <Name>John</Name>
    </dd>
    <dd>
      <Name>David</Name>
    </dd>
  </bb>
</hh>

I'm trying to modify the name: "John --> Rose", and "David --> Gina"

So I write the code as below:

import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
import glob


for file in glob.glob("ff/*.xml"):
    tree = ET.parse(file)
    root = tree.getroot()

    a01 = "aa/cc[1]/ee"
    a02 = "bb/dd[1]"
    b01 = "aa/cc[2]/ee"
    b02 = "bb/dd[2]"

    apaths = [a01, a02]
    bpaths = [b01, b02]

    for i in apaths:
        aa = root.findall(apaths)
        aa.text = "Rose"

    tree.write(file)

    for i in bpaths:
        bb = root.findall(bpaths)
        bb.text = "Gina"

    tree.write(file)

But it response "TypeError: unhashable type: 'list'". Could someone help me to correct my code? Many thanks.

Please see my answer. It should work for you. Let me know what is missing? — MA1
– MA1, Commented Jul 20, 2018 at 6:34

MA1 · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-20 07:20:22Z

1

Here is complete working code

Updated as per new requirements

import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
import glob

for file in glob.glob("ff/*.xml"):
    tree = ET.parse(file)
    root = tree.getroot()

    for name in root.findall('.//aa//Name'):
        name.text = 'Rose'

    for name in root.findall('.//bb//Name'):
        name.text = 'Gina'

    tree.write(file)

Updated Code to operate on all xml files in a directory

import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
import glob

name_map = {
    'John': 'Rose',
    'David': 'Gina',
}

for file in glob.glob("ff/*.xml"):
    tree = ET.parse(file)
    root = tree.getroot()

    for name in root.findall('.//Name'):
        new_name = name_map.get(name.text)
        if new_name:
            name.text = new_name

    tree.write(file)

Code to rename in an xml

import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
xml_str = '''
<hh>
  <aa>
    <cc>
      <ee>
        <Name>John</Name>
      </ee>
    </cc>
      <ee>
        <Name>David</Name>
      </ee>
  </aa>
  <bb>
    <dd>
      <Name>John</Name>
    </dd>
    <dd>
      <Name>David</Name>
    </dd>
  </bb>
</hh>
'''


name_map = {
    'John': 'Rose',
    'David': 'Gina',
}

xml = ET.fromstring(xml_str)
print(ET.tostring(xml))

for name in xml.findall('.//Name'):
    new_name = name_map.get(name.text)
    if new_name:
        name.text = new_name

print(ET.tostring(xml))

edited Jul 20, 2018 at 7:20

answered Jul 20, 2018 at 5:39

MA1

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3 Comments

dnisqa2 delta Over a year ago

Thanks for your help. Sometimes the name is not "John" or "David" in my xml file, maybe "Anderson" or "Jack". But I still need to modify the names to "Rose" and "Gina" in my xml file, so I can't use name_map. Do you know any other method which can reach my purpose?

MA1 Over a year ago

Thanks for the explanation. If a name is Anderson then what would be the condition to rename it? How would we decide to rename it to "Rose" or "Gina"? Also can you please update the question?

dnisqa2 delta Over a year ago

Sorry for unclear question. My purpose is to modify the "Name" to "Rose" in a01 and a02 , and "Gina" in b01 and b02. So whatever the name under "a path" or "b path", I need to modify them to "Rose" in "a path" and "Gina" in "b path".

Theo Vasileiadis · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-20 06:54:41Z

0

You are calling Element.findall with a list argument, instead do:

for i in apaths:
        aa = root.findall(i)
        aa[0].text = "Rose"

and

 for i in bpaths:
        bb = root.findall(i)
        bb[0].text = "Gina"

edited Jul 20, 2018 at 6:54

answered Jul 20, 2018 at 5:33

Theo Vasileiadis

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5 Comments

dnisqa2 delta Over a year ago

After I modify the code, it stop at the line "aa.text = "Rose"", and response the error "AttributeError: 'list' object has no attribute 'text'".

Theo Vasileiadis Over a year ago

Try setting: a01 = "aa/cc[1]/ee[1]" a02 = "bb/dd[1]" b01 = "aa/cc[2]/ee[1]" b02 = "bb/dd[2]"

dnisqa2 delta Over a year ago

It still stop at the same line and response the same message. Is it the issue of array?

Theo Vasileiadis Over a year ago

Try printing aa after finall and see what it is set to.

dnisqa2 delta Over a year ago

Print result is like: "[<Element 'ee' at 0x00000000029FFCC8>]", is it correct?

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