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Shakhzhakhan Maxudbek
Shakhzhakhan Maxudbek

Posted on • Edited on • Originally published at args.tech

Working with XML in Python Requests library

#python #xml #requests #parsing

What is XML? XML mean Extensible Markup Language, which need for storing structured data and group any items. In XML markup language you may create tags with any names. The most popular examples of XML - Sitemaps and RSS feeds.

Example of XML file:

<breakfast_menu> <food> <name>Belgian Waffles</name> <price>$5.95</price> <description>Two of our famous Belgian Waffles with plenty of real maple syrup</description> <calories>650</calories> </food> <food> <name>Strawberry Belgian Waffles</name> <price>$7.95</price> <description>Light Belgian waffles covered with strawberries and whipped cream</description> <calories>900</calories> </food> <food> <name>Berry-Berry Belgian Waffles</name> <price>$8.95</price> <description>Light Belgian waffles covered with an assortment of fresh berries and whipped cream</description> <calories>900</calories> </food> <food> <name>French Toast</name> <price>$4.50</price> <description>Thick slices made from our homemade sourdough bread</description> <calories>600</calories> </food> <food> <name>Homestyle Breakfast</name> <price>$6.95</price> <description>Two eggs, bacon or sausage, toast, and our ever-popular hash browns</description> <calories>950</calories> </food> </breakfast_menu>
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In this example, file contain breakfast_menu global tag, who include food categories, and every food category includes name, price, description and calories tag.

Now we start learning how to work with XML and Python Requests library. First we need to prepare our working environment.

For create new project and virtual environment install python3-virtualenv package. It need for separation requirements of each project. Installation in Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo apt install python3 python3-virtualenv -y
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Create project folder:

mkdir my_project cd my_project
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Create Python virtual environment with env named folder:

python3 -m venv env
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Activate virtual environment:

source env/bin/activate
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Install PIP's dependencies:

pip3 install requests
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Let's start code writing.

Create main.py file and insert code below:

import requests import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET request = requests.get('https://www.w3schools.com/xml/simple.xml') root = ET.fromstring(request.content) for item in root.iter('*'): print(item.tag)
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This code snippet help us to find all inner tags.

The output of this code:

(env) user@localhost:~/my_project$ python3 main.py breakfast_menu food name price description calories food name price description calories food name price description calories food name price description calories food name price description calories
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Now we are write code for getting values from inner elements. Open main.py file and replace previously code with this:

import requests import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET request = requests.get('https://www.w3schools.com/xml/simple.xml') root = ET.fromstring(request.content) for item in root.iterfind('food'): print(item.findtext('name')) print(item.findtext('price')) print(item.findtext('description')) print(item.findtext('calories'))
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We received next result:

(env) user@localhost:~/my_project$ python3 main.py Belgian Waffles $5.95 Two of our famous Belgian Waffles with plenty of real maple syrup 650 Strawberry Belgian Waffles $7.95 Light Belgian waffles covered with strawberries and whipped cream 900 Berry-Berry Belgian Waffles $8.95 Light Belgian waffles covered with an assortment of fresh berries and whipped cream 900 French Toast $4.50 Thick slices made from our homemade sourdough bread 600 Homestyle Breakfast $6.95 Two eggs, bacon or sausage, toast, and our ever-popular hash browns 950
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At the final step we prettifying output data to make it easier to read:

import requests import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET request = requests.get('https://www.w3schools.com/xml/simple.xml') root = ET.fromstring(request.content) for item in root.iterfind('food'): print('Name: {}. Price: {}. Description: {}. Calories: {}'.format(item.findtext('name'), item.findtext('price'), item.findtext('description'), item.findtext('calories')))
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Here output:

(env) user@localhost:~/my_project$ python3 main.py Name: Belgian Waffles. Price: $5.95. Description: Two of our famous Belgian Waffles with plenty of real maple syrup. Calories: 650 Name: Strawberry Belgian Waffles. Price: $7.95. Description: Light Belgian waffles covered with strawberries and whipped cream. Calories: 900 Name: Berry-Berry Belgian Waffles. Price: $8.95. Description: Light Belgian waffles covered with an assortment of fresh berries and whipped cream. Calories: 900 Name: French Toast. Price: $4.50. Description: Thick slices made from our homemade sourdough bread. Calories: 600 Name: Homestyle Breakfast. Price: $6.95. Description: Two eggs, bacon or sausage, toast, and our ever-popular hash browns. Calories: 950
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Source materials:
Example of XML file taken from W3Schools.

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