How to Parse and Modify XML in Python?
Last Updated :
21 Apr, 2020
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XML stands for Extensible Markup Language. It was designed to store and transport data. It was designed to be both human- and machine-readable. That’s why, the design goals of XML emphasize simplicity, generality, and usability across the Internet.
Note: For more information, refer to XML | Basics
Here we consider that the XML file is present in the memory. Please read the comments in the code for a clear understanding.
XML File:
Let us save the above XML file as "test.xml". Before going further you should know that in XML we do not have predefined tags as we have in HTML. While writing XML the author has to define his/her own tags as well as the document structure. Now we need to parse this file and modify it using Python. We will be using "minidom" library of Python 3 to do the above task. This module does not come built-in with Python. To install this type the below command in the terminal.
Python3 1==
Output:
Python
Python3 1==
Output
Let us add the following :
Python3 1==
Output:
The last 3 lines of the Python code just converts the "file" object into XML using the toxml() method and writes it to the "test.xml" file. If you do not want to edit the original file and just want to print the modified XML then replace those 3 lines by:

pip install minidom
Reading XML
First we will be reading the contents of the XML file and then we will learn how to modify the XML file. Exampleimport xml.dom.minidom as md
def main():
# parsing the xml file and
# storing the contents in
# "file" object Put in the
# path of your XML file in
# the parameter for parse() method.
file = md.parse( "test.xml" )
# nodeName returns the type of
# the file(in our case it returns
# document)
print( file.nodeName )
# firstChild.tagName returns the
# name of the first tag.Here it
# is "note"
print( file.firstChild.tagName )
firstname = file.getElementsByTagName( "fname" )
# printing the first name
print( "Name: " + firstname[ 0 ].firstChild.nodeValue )
lastname = file.getElementsByTagName( "lname" )
# printing the last name
print( "Surname: " + lastname[ 0 ].firstChild.nodeValue )
favgame = file.getElementsByTagName( "favgame" )
# printing the favourite game
print( "Favourite Game: " + favgame[ 0 ].firstChild.nodeValue )
# Printing tag values having
# attributes(Here tag "player"
# has "name" attribute)
players = file.getElementsByTagName( "player" )
for player in players:
print( player.getAttribute( "name" ) )
if __name__=="__main__":
main();
#document note Name: Jack Surname: Shelby Favourite Game: Football Messi Ronaldo MbappeIn the above Python code while printing First Name or Last Name we have used firstname[0] / lastname[0]. This is because there is only 1 "fname" and only 1 "lname" tag. For multiple same tags we can proceed like below. XML:

import xml.dom.minidom as md
def main():
file = md.parse( "test.xml" )
names = file.getElementsByTagName( "fname" )
for name in names:
print( name.firstChild.nodeValue )
if __name__=="__main__":
main();
Jack John Harry
Modifying XML
Now we have got a basic idea on how we can parse and read the contents of a XML file using Python. Now let us learn to modify an XML file. XML File:
- Height
- Languages known by Jack
import xml.dom.minidom as md
def main():
file = md.parse("test.xml")
height = file.createElement( "height" )
# setting height value to 180cm
height.setAttribute("val", "180 cm")
# adding height tag to the "file"
# object
file.firstChild.appendChild(height)
lan = [ "English", "Spanish", "French" ]
# creating separate "lang" tags for
# each language and adding it to
# "file" object
for l in lan:
lang = file.createElement( "lang" )
lang.setAttribute( "lng", l )
file.firstChild.appendChild( lang )
delete = file.getElementsByTagName( "hobby" )
# deleting all occurences of a particular
# tag(here "hobby")
for i in delete:
x = i.parentNode
x.removeChild( i )
# modifying the value of a tag(here "age")
file.getElementsByTagName( "age" )[ 0 ].childNodes[ 0 ].nodeValue = "29"
# writing the changes in "file" object to
# the "test.xml" file
with open( "test.xml", "w" ) as fs:
fs.write( file.toxml() )
fs.close()
if __name__=="__main__":
main();

print(file.toxml())