simplest way to generate xml in python

Question

I have a defaultdict(list).. So, data structure of following format:

1:[1,2,3,4,5]
2:[2,3,4]

I want to generate the following xml

<html>
<page>
<src>1</src>
<links>
   <link>1</link>
   <link>2</link>
    ...
    <link>5</link>
</links>
</page>

<page>
<src>2</src>
<links>
   <link>2</link>
   <link>3</link>
    <link>4</link>
</links>
</page>
<html>

And then write an indented xml to file

Check out this answer: [http://stackoverflow.com/a/4470210/25097](http://stackoverflow.com/a/4470210/25097). ``lxml.builder.E`` is super-easy to use for this kind of thing. — Christian Aichinger, Apr 07 '14 at 19:15
Speaking as someone who does not know how to use the xml libraries of python, your question seems straightforward to implement with two nested for loops, if you are reasonable sure your scope won't grow for this functionality. — Emilio M Bumachar, Apr 07 '14 at 19:18

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 07 '14 at 19:16

You can use BeautifulSoup:

from bs4 import Tag


d = {1: [1,2,3,4,5], 2: [2,3,4]}

root = Tag(name='html')
for key, values in d.iteritems():
    page = Tag(name='page')
    src = Tag(name='src')
    src.string = str(key)
    page.append(src)

    links = Tag(name='links')
    for value in values:
        link = Tag(name='link')
        link.string = str(value)
        links.append(link)

    page.append(links)
    root.append(page)

print root.prettify()

prints:

<html>
 <page>
  <src>
   1
  </src>
  <links>
   <link>
    1
   </link>
   <link>
    2
   </link>
   <link>
    3
   </link>
   <link>
    4
   </link>
   <link>
    5
   </link>
  </links>
 </page>
 <page>
  <src>
   2
  </src>
  <links>
   <link>
    2
   </link>
   <link>
    3
   </link>
   <link>
    4
   </link>
  </links>
 </page>
</html>

Anyway, we can indent the format properly like 1 in same line?? — frazman, Apr 07 '14 at 19:18
@Fraz it's just a beautifulsoup prettifier, you can customize the output. — alecxe, Apr 07 '14 at 19:20

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 07 '14 at 19:25

You can also define a jinja2 template and render it:

from jinja2 import Template


data = {1:[1,2,3,4,5], 2:[2,3,4]}

html = """<html>
    {% for key, values in data.iteritems() %}
        <page>
        <src>{{ key }}</src>
        <links>
            {% for value in values %}
               <link>{{ value }}</link>
            {% endfor %}
        </links>
        </page>
    {% endfor %}
<html>"""

template = Template(html)
print template.render(data=data)

prints:

<html>
        <page>
        <src>1</src>
        <links>
               <link>1</link>
               <link>2</link>
               <link>3</link>
               <link>4</link>
               <link>5</link>
        </links>
        </page>

        <page>
        <src>2</src>
        <links>
               <link>2</link>
               <link>3</link>
               <link>4</link>
        </links>
        </page>
<html>

simplest way to generate xml in python

2 Answers2