Python strip XML tags from document

Question

I am trying to strip XML tags from a document using Python, a language I am a novice in. Here is my first attempt using regex, whixh was really a hope-for-the-best idea.

Answer 1

An alternative to Jeremiah's answer without requiring the lxml external library:

import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
...
tree = ET.fromstring(Text)
notags = ET.tostring(tree, encoding='utf8', method='text')
print(notags)

Should work with any Python >= 2.5

Answer 2

Please, note, that usually it is not normal to do it by regular expressions. See Jeremiah answer.

Try this:

import re

text = re.sub('<[^<]+>', "", open("/path/to/file").read())
with open("/path/to/file", "w") as f:
    f.write(text)

Answer 3

The most reliable way to do this is probably with LXML.

from lxml import etree
...
tree = etree.parse('somefile.xml')
notags = etree.tostring(tree, encoding='utf8', method='text')
print(notags)

It will avoid the problems with "parsing" XML with regular expressions, and should correctly handle escaping and everything.