Python: namespaces in xml ElementTree (or lxml)

Question

I want to retrieve a legacy xml file, manipulate and save it.

Here is my code:

from xml.etree import cElementTree as ET
NS = \"{http://www.somedomain         


        

Answer 1

Have a look at the lxml tutorial section on namespaces. Also this article about namespaces in ElementTree.

Problem 1: Put up with it, like everybody else does. Instead of "%(ns)Event" % {'ns':NS } try NS+"Event".

Problem 2: By default, the XML declaration is written only if it is required. You can force it (lxml only) by using xml_declaration=True in your write() call.

Problem 3: The nsmap arg appears to be lxml-only. AFAICT it needs a MAPping, not a string. Try nsmap={None: NS}. The effbot article has a section describing a workaround for this.