Using XPath in ElementTree to find Nested Elements

Question

Given the following xml example, how can I print both the Actor name and their location?

I would like for the output to be:

John Cleese Ohio Eric Idle Colorado

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<actors xmlns:fictional="http://characters.example.com"
        xmlns="http://people.example.com">
    <actor>
        <name>John Cleese</name>
        <fictional:character>Lancelot</fictional:character>
        <fictional:character>Archie Leach</fictional:character>
        <Location>
            <State>
                <name>Ohio</>
            </State>
        </Location>
    </actor>
    <actor>
        <name>Eric Idle</name>
        <fictional:character>Sir Robin</fictional:character>
        <fictional:character>Gunther</fictional:character>
        <fictional:character>Commander Clement</fictional:character>
        <Location>
            <State>
                <name>Colorado</>
            </State>
        </Location>
    </actor>
</actors>

I tried the below code but it only prints the actor's names and does not print the states names

import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET

tree = ET.parse('Actors.xml')
root = tree.getroot()

root = fromstring(xml_text)
for actor in root.findall('{http://people.example.com}actor'):
    name = actor.find('{http://people.example.com}name')
    print(name.text)
    for state in actor.findall('{http://characters.example.com}state'):
        print(' |-->', state.text)

You will have better chances of getting help if you show some research (see How do I ask a good question?) provide a minimal, reproducible example. — Hernán Alarcón
– Hernán Alarcón, Commented May 2, 2021 at 23:33

Jack Fleeting · Accepted Answer · 2021-05-03 01:00:22Z

1

Try it this way:

actors = root.findall('.//{*}actor')
for actor in actors:
    name = actor.find('./{*}name')
    location = actor.find('./{*}Location//{*}name')
    print(name.text, location.text)

Output:

John Cleese Ohio
Eric Idle Colorado

answered May 3, 2021 at 1:00

Jack Fleeting

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2 Comments

Clyde Over a year ago

Hi Jack, just out of curiosity, what if there is more than one state, how could I grab both? <actor> <name>Eric Idle</name> <fictional:character>Sir Robin</fictional:character> <fictional:character>Gunther</fictional:character> <fictional:character>Commander Clement</fictional:character> <Location> <state> <name>Colorado</> </state> <state> <name>Texas</> </state> </Location> </actor>

Jack Fleeting Over a year ago

@Clyde I believe it's doable, but may be too long for a comment. It's probably best to just post it as a separate question.

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