Parsing xml files with Python xml.etree : empty results

Question

I'm trying to parse following xml file with xml.etree. However, it does't produce any results.

from xml.etree import cElementTree as ET
xmlstr = """<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>

<tns:getCamerasResponse xmlns:tns="https://infoconnect.highwayinfo.govt.nz/schemas/camera2">

    <tns:camera>

        <tns:description>North along Sth Wstn Mwy from May Rd</tns:description>

        <tns:direction>Northbound</tns:direction>

        <tns:group>NA</tns:group>

        <tns:id>653</tns:id>

        <tns:imageUrl>http://www.trafficnz.info/camera/653.jpg</tns:imageUrl>

        <tns:lat>-36.90943</tns:lat>

        <tns:lon>174.73442</tns:lon>

        <tns:name>SH20 May Rd Overbridge</tns:name>

        <tns:offline>false</tns:offline>

        <tns:region>Auckland</tns:region>

        <tns:thumbUrl>http://www.trafficnz.info/camera/thumb/653.jpg</tns:thumbUrl>

        <tns:underMaintenance>false</tns:underMaintenance>

        <tns:viewUrl>http://www.trafficnz.info/camera/view/653</tns:viewUrl>

 </tns:camera>
 </tns:getCamerasResponse>"""



root = ET.fromstring(xmlstr)


results = root.findall('tns:camera', {'tns':"https://infoconnect.highwayinfo.govt.nz/schemas/camera2"})
for camera in results:
    region = camera.find('tns:region')
    if region is not None:
        print(region.text)

You are missing the namespace I think `results = root.findall('ns:camera', {'ns':"https://infoconnect.highwayinfo.govt.nz/schemas/camera2"})` should work — Manuel, Sep 24 '19 at 22:52
The tag in question isn't `` -- it's ``, and you aren't accounting for that. Read up on xml namespaces. — John Gordon, Sep 24 '19 at 22:53
@Manuel: added this "results = root.findall('tns:camera', {'tns':"https://infoconnect.highwayinfo.govt.nz/schemas/camera2"})". Still giving empty results. — Nilani Algiriyage, Sep 24 '19 at 22:58
`results = root.findall('tns:camera', {'tns':"https://infoconnect.highwayinfo.govt.nz/schemas/camera2"})` works for me — Manuel, Sep 24 '19 at 23:00
@Manuel: I have edited the code after adding the namespace. Still I'm not getting any results. Could please post your code as an answer? Thank you. — Nilani Algiriyage, Sep 24 '19 at 23:05

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 24 '19 at 23:10

You need to account for namespaces in your find methods.

from xml.etree import cElementTree as ET
xmlstr = """<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>

<tns:getCamerasResponse xmlns:tns="https://infoconnect.highwayinfo.govt.nz/schemas/camera2">

    <tns:camera>

        <tns:description>North along Sth Wstn Mwy from May Rd</tns:description>

        <tns:direction>Northbound</tns:direction>

        <tns:group>NA</tns:group>

        <tns:id>653</tns:id>

        <tns:imageUrl>http://www.trafficnz.info/camera/653.jpg</tns:imageUrl>

        <tns:lat>-36.90943</tns:lat>

        <tns:lon>174.73442</tns:lon>

        <tns:name>SH20 May Rd Overbridge</tns:name>

        <tns:offline>false</tns:offline>

        <tns:region>Auckland</tns:region>

        <tns:thumbUrl>http://www.trafficnz.info/camera/thumb/653.jpg</tns:thumbUrl>

        <tns:underMaintenance>false</tns:underMaintenance>

        <tns:viewUrl>http://www.trafficnz.info/camera/view/653</tns:viewUrl>

 </tns:camera>
 </tns:getCamerasResponse>"""



root = ET.fromstring(xmlstr)

ns = {'tns':"https://infoconnect.highwayinfo.govt.nz/schemas/camera2"}
results = root.findall('tns:camera', ns)
for camera in results:
    region = camera.find('tns:region', ns)
    if region is not None:
        print(region.text)

If you need to know how to get the namespace, this could help maybe Python: ElementTree, get the namespace string of an Element

Parsing xml files with Python xml.etree : empty results

1 Answers1