Extracting regex for the correct nested XML value

Question

I'm trying to extract the English Name for the below XML code. I need to extract the Name value for language="eng" instead of language="chi".

May I know what is the Python regex that can help me to achieve it?

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <BroadcastData creationDate="20150814232141">
     <ProviderInfo>
         <ProviderId>Profis</ProviderId>
         <ProviderName>ProfisLynx.</ProviderName>
     </ProviderInfo>
     <ScheduleData>
         <ChannelPeriod endTime="20150814233000" beginTime="20150814220000">
             <ChannelId>88</ChannelId>
             <Event duration="1800" beginTime="20150814220000">
                 <EventId>GR0018904021</EventId>
                 <DvbEventId>45481</DvbEventId>
                 <EventType>S</EventType>
                 <PreviewTime>0</PreviewTime>
                 <EpgProduction>
                     <EpgText language="eng">
                         <Name>Across The Strait</Name>
                         <Description>This programme looks at the happenings in Taiwan and its relationship with China. There'll be updated news on Taiwan and in-depth reports and discussions about current affairs issues in Taiwan.</Description>
                         <ExtendedInfo name="Contentid_ref">GR0018904021</ExtendedInfo>
                         <ExtendedInfo name="AudioTrack">chi</ExtendedInfo>
                         <ExtendedInfo name="Start_over_flag">0</ExtendedInfo>
                         <ExtendedInfo name="ProgrammeStatus">L</ExtendedInfo>
                     </EpgText>
                     <EpgText language="chi">
                         <Name>æµ·å³¡ä¸¤å²¸</Name>
                         <Description>ä¸¬å¤®ç”µè§†å°å”¯ä¸€çš„æ¶‰å°æ—¶äº‹æ–°é—»è¯„è®ºèŠ‚ç›®ã€‚èŠ‚ç›®å®—æ—¨æ˜¯è·Ÿè¸ªæµ·å³¡çƒ¬ç‚¹ï¼Œåæ˜ ä¸¤å²¸æ°‘æ„ï¼ŒæŠ¥å¯¼å½“æ—¥çš„è¿‘æœŸå°æ¹¾å²›å†…çš„çƒ¬ç‚¹æ–°é—»ï¼Œå¹¶å¯¹ä¸¤å²¸å„ä¸ªå±‚é¢çš„äº¤æµäº¤å¾€è¿›è¡Œè·Ÿè¸ªæŠ¥é“ã€‚</Description>
                         <ExtendedInfo name="AudioTrack">chi</ExtendedInfo>
                         <ExtendedInfo name="ProgrammeStatus">L</ExtendedInfo>
                     </EpgText>
                     <ParentalRating>0</ParentalRating>
                     <DvbContent>
                         <Content nibble2="0" nibble1="0"/>
                         <User nibble2="A" nibble1="0"/>
                     </DvbContent>
                     <DvbContent>
                         <Content nibble2="0" nibble1="0"/>
                         <User nibble2="0" nibble1="8"/>
                     </DvbContent>
                 </EpgProduction>
             </Event>
 ==============================================================
             <Event duration="1800" beginTime="20150814223000">
                 <EventId>GR0018906021</EventId>
                 <DvbEventId>45482</DvbEventId>
                 <EventType>S</EventType>
                 <PreviewTime>0</PreviewTime>
                 <EpgProduction>
                     <EpgText language="eng">
                         <Name>Asia Today</Name>
                         <Description>Tune in daily to receive the important news and latest social changes happening in Asia.</Description>
                         <ExtendedInfo name="Contentid_ref">GR0018906021</ExtendedInfo>
                         <ExtendedInfo name="AudioTrack">chi</ExtendedInfo>
                         <ExtendedInfo name="Start_over_flag">0</ExtendedInfo>
                         <ExtendedInfo name="ProgrammeStatus">L</ExtendedInfo>
                     </EpgText>
                     <EpgText language="chi">
                         <Name>ä»Šæ—¥äºšæ´²</Name>
                         <Description>èŠ‚ç›®ä»¥äºšæ´²äººçš„è§†è§’æŠ¥é“äºšæ´²ã€ä¼ è¾¾äºšæ´²äººçš„å£°éŸ³ã€å±•çŽ°äºšæ´²çš„è¿›æ-¥å’Œå‘å±•ï¼Œä»¥åŠåæ˜ äºšæ´²ä¸Žä¸–ç•Œå…¶ä»–åœ°åŒºçš„äº’åŠ¨ã€‚</Description>
                         <ExtendedInfo name="AudioTrack">chi</ExtendedInfo>
                         <ExtendedInfo name="ProgrammeStatus">L</ExtendedInfo>
                     </EpgText>
                     <ParentalRating>0</ParentalRating>
                     <DvbContent>
                         <Content nibble2="0" nibble1="0"/>
                         <User nibble2="A" nibble1="0"/>
                     </DvbContent>
                     <DvbContent>
                         <Content nibble2="0" nibble1="0"/>
                         <User nibble2="0" nibble1="8"/>
                     </DvbContent>
                 </EpgProduction>
             </Event>
 ==============================================================
             <Event duration="1800" beginTime="20150814230000">
                 <EventId>GR0018908021</EventId>
                 <DvbEventId>45483</DvbEventId>
                 <EventType>S</EventType>
                 <PreviewTime>0</PreviewTime>
                 <EpgProduction>
                     <EpgText language="eng">
                         <Name>China News</Name>
                         <Description>A news programme made especially to cater to the needs of overseas Chinese and potential investors. The content include China and international news and news analysis.</Description>
                         <ExtendedInfo name="Contentid_ref">GR0018908021</ExtendedInfo>
                         <ExtendedInfo name="AudioTrack">chi</ExtendedInfo>
                         <ExtendedInfo name="Start_over_flag">0</ExtendedInfo>
                         <ExtendedInfo name="ProgrammeStatus">L</ExtendedInfo>
                     </EpgText>
                     <EpgText language="chi">
                         <Name>ä¸¬å›½æ–°é—»</Name>
                         <Description>ã€Šä¸¬å›½æ–°é—»ã€‹æ˜¯ä»¥æµ·å¤–åŽäººã€æ¸¯æ¾³å°åŒèƒžã€ç•™å¬¦ç”Ÿã€é©»å¤–ä½¿é¢†é¦†åŠä¸-èµ„æœºæž„äººå‘˜ä¸ºç›®æ ‡çš„æ–°é—»èŠ‚ç›®ã€‚èŠ‚ç›®ç”±å›½å†…å¤–è¦é—»ã€å†…åœ°ç»æµŽå’Œç¤¾ä¼šæ–°é—»ã€å¯¹å›½å†…å¤–é‡è¦æ–°é—»äº‹ä»¶çš„åˆ†æžç»„æˆã€‚</Description>
                         <ExtendedInfo name="AudioTrack">chi</ExtendedInfo>
                         <ExtendedInfo name="ProgrammeStatus">L</ExtendedInfo>
                     </EpgText>
                     <ParentalRating>0</ParentalRating>
                     <DvbContent>
                         <Content nibble2="0" nibble1="0"/>
                         <User nibble2="A" nibble1="0"/>
                     </DvbContent>
                     <DvbContent>
                         <Content nibble2="0" nibble1="0"/>
                         <User nibble2="0" nibble1="8"/>
                     </DvbContent>
                 </EpgProduction>
             </Event>
 ==============================================================
         </ChannelPeriod>
     </ScheduleData>
 </BroadcastData>
==================================================================================================================

use ElementTree or lxml to parse your file. – Daniel Aug 24 '15 at 10:27 — Daniel, Aug 24 '15 at 10:27
**TL;DR**: *don't parse XML with regular expressions!* – jonrsharpe Aug 24 '15 at 10:28 — jonrsharpe, Aug 24 '15 at 10:28

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:06

0

You better not to parse XML with RegEx to avoid unexpected result.

Try this out -- How do I parse XML in Python?

edited May 23 '17 at 12:06

Community

1
1

answered Aug 24 '15 at 10:54

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 24 '15 at 11:38

If text contains the XML you have provided, then the following RegEx would work:

print re.findall(r'<EpgText\s+language="eng">\s*<Name>(.*?)</Name>', text, re.M+re.I)

This would display the following three results:

['Across The Strait', 'Asia Today', 'China News']

It would though be much safer to parse the XML using an XML library.

Extracting regex for the correct nested XML value

2 Answers2