# xmltodict
`xmltodict` is a Python module that makes working with XML feel like you are working with [JSON](http://docs.python.org/library/json.html), as in this ["spec"](http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2006/05/31/converting-between-xml-and-json.html):
[](http://travis-ci.org/martinblech/xmltodict)
```python
>>> print(json.dumps(xmltodict.parse("""
... <mydocument has="an attribute">
... <and>
... <many>elements</many>
... <many>more elements</many>
... </and>
... <plus a="complex">
... element as well
... </plus>
... </mydocument>
... """), indent=4))
{
"mydocument": {
"@has": "an attribute",
"and": {
"many": [
"elements",
"more elements"
]
},
"plus": {
"@a": "complex",
"#text": "element as well"
}
}
}
```
## Namespace support
By default, `xmltodict` does no XML namespace processing (it just treats namespace declarations as regular node attributes), but passing `process_namespaces=True` will make it expand namespaces for you:
```python
>>> xml = """
... <root xmlns="http://defaultns.com/"
... xmlns:a="http://a.com/"
... xmlns:b="http://b.com/">
... <x>1</x>
... <a:y>2</a:y>
... <b:z>3</b:z>
... </root>
... """
>>> xmltodict.parse(xml, process_namespaces=True) == {
... 'http://defaultns.com/:root': {
... 'http://defaultns.com/:x': '1',
... 'http://a.com/:y': '2',
... 'http://b.com/:z': '3',
... }
... }
True
```
It also lets you collapse certain namespaces to shorthand prefixes, or skip them altogether:
```python
>>> namespaces = {
... 'http://defaultns.com/': None, # skip this namespace
... 'http://a.com/': 'ns_a', # collapse "http://a.com/" -> "ns_a"
... }
>>> xmltodict.parse(xml, process_namespaces=True, namespaces=namespaces) == {
... 'root': {
... 'x': '1',
... 'ns_a:y': '2',
... 'http://b.com/:z': '3',
... },
... }
True
```
## Streaming mode
`xmltodict` is very fast ([Expat](http://docs.python.org/library/pyexpat.html)-based) and has a streaming mode with a small memory footprint, suitable for big XML dumps like [Discogs](http://discogs.com/data/) or [Wikipedia](http://dumps.wikimedia.org/):
```python
>>> def handle_artist(_, artist):
... print(artist['name'])
... return True
>>>
>>> xmltodict.parse(GzipFile('discogs_artists.xml.gz'),
... item_depth=2, item_callback=handle_artist)
A Perfect Circle
Fantômas
King Crimson
Chris Potter
...
```
It can also be used from the command line to pipe objects to a script like this:
```python
import sys, marshal
while True:
_, article = marshal.load(sys.stdin)
print(article['title'])
```
```sh
$ cat enwiki-pages-articles.xml.bz2 | bunzip2 | xmltodict.py 2 | myscript.py
AccessibleComputing
Anarchism
AfghanistanHistory
AfghanistanGeography
AfghanistanPeople
AfghanistanCommunications
Autism
...
```
Or just cache the dicts so you don't have to parse that big XML file again. You do this only once:
```sh
$ cat enwiki-pages-articles.xml.bz2 | bunzip2 | xmltodict.py 2 | gzip > enwiki.dicts.gz
```
And you reuse the dicts with every script that needs them:
```sh
$ cat enwiki.dicts.gz | gunzip | script1.py
$ cat enwiki.dicts.gz | gunzip | script2.py
...
```
## Roundtripping
You can also convert in the other direction, using the `unparse()` method:
```python
>>> mydict = {
... 'response': {
... 'status': 'good',
... 'last_updated': '2014-02-16T23:10:12Z',
... }
... }
>>> print(unparse(mydict, pretty=True))
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<response>
<status>good</status>
<last_updated>2014-02-16T23:10:12Z</last_updated>
</response>
```
Text values for nodes can be specified with the `cdata_key` key in the python dict, while node properties can be specified with the `attr_prefix` prefixed to the key name in the python dict. The default value for `attr_prefix` is `@` and the default value for `cdata_key` is `#text`.
```python
>>> import xmltodict
>>>
>>> mydict = {
... 'text': {
... '@color':'red',
... '@stroke':'2',
... '#text':'This is a test'
... }
... }
>>> print(xmltodict.unparse(mydict, pretty=True))
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<text stroke="2" color="red">This is a test</text>
```
## Ok, how do I get it?
### Using pypi
You just need to
```sh
$ pip install xmltodict
```
### RPM-based distro (Fedora, RHEL, …)
There is an [official Fedora package for xmltodict](https://admin.fedoraproject.org/pkgdb/acls/name/python-xmltodict).
```sh
$ sudo yum install python-xmltodict
```
### Arch Linux
There is an [official Arch Linux package for xmltodict](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/community/any/python-xmltodict/).
```sh
$ sudo pacman -S python-xmltodict
```
### Debian-based distro (Debian, Ubuntu, …)
There is an [official Debian package for xmltodict](https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/python-xmltodict).
```sh
$ sudo apt install python-xmltodict
```
