Python ElementTree - Select a nested xml element based on the value of an attribute

Question

I'm trying to select a nested element based on the value of an attribute

from xml.etree import ElementTree as ET

xml = '''<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <Report>
        <h1>
            <h2>
                <Element name='Bob' age='32' title='President'></Element>
                <Element name='Sue' age='25' title='Vice-President'></Element>
                <Element name='Mary' age='44' title='Secretary'></Element>
            </h2>
        </h1>
    </Report>'''

root = ET.fromstring(xml)

element = root.findall("//*[@title='President']")

But I get the following error for the element variable assignment

SyntaxError: cannot use absolute path on element

How can I pull the attribute data for the President element only?

balderman · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-27 17:12:25Z

1

You were very close :-)

The below works - look at the dot in the xpath..

xml = '''<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <Report>
        <h1>
            <h2>
                <Element name='Bob' age='32' title='President'></Element>
                <Element name='Sue' age='25' title='Vice-President'></Element>
                <Element name='Mary' age='44' title='Secretary'></Element>
            </h2>
        </h1>
    </Report>'''

root = ET.fromstring(xml)
elements = root.findall(".//*[@title='President']")
print(elements)

answered Jul 27, 2022 at 17:12

balderman

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3 Comments

GrizzlyMcGee Over a year ago

Thanks @balderman. I get the element assignment that way, but I can't access the attribute values that way. This does not work: print(element.attrib["name"], element.attrib["age"], element.attrib["title"]). Is there another way to pull those attribute values?

balderman Over a year ago

Did you try and print the attrib ?

GrizzlyMcGee Over a year ago

I needed to loop through element like @AudioBaton does. Thanks for your help.

AudioBaton · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-27 17:42:53Z

0

is this what you're looking for?

from xml.etree import ElementTree as ET

xml = '''<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <Report>
        <h1>
            <h2>
                <Element name='Bob' age='32' title='President'></Element>
                <Element name='Sue' age='25' title='Vice-President'></Element>
                <Element name='Mary' age='44' title='Secretary'></Element>
            </h2>
        </h1>
    </Report>'''


root = ET.fromstring(xml)
elements = root.findall(".//*[@title='President']")
for i in elements:
    print(i.attrib['name'], i.attrib['age'], i.attrib['title'])

edited Jul 27, 2022 at 17:42

answered Jul 27, 2022 at 17:02

AudioBaton

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1 Comment

GrizzlyMcGee Over a year ago

I was missing the dot in the findall and didn't know I needed to loop through elements. Thanks! This works for me.

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