How to update/modify an XML file in python?

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Using ElementTree:

import xml.etree.ElementTree

# Open original file
et = xml.etree.ElementTree.parse('file.xml')

# Append new tag: <a x='1' y='abc'>body text</a>
new_tag = xml.etree.ElementTree.SubElement(et.getroot(), 'a')
new_tag.text="body text"
new_tag.attrib['x'] = '1' # must be str; cannot be an int
new_tag.attrib['y'] = 'abc'

# Write back to file
#et.write('file.xml')
et.write('file_new.xml')

note: output written to file_new.xml for you to experiment, writing back to file.xml will replace the old content.

IMPORTANT: the ElementTree library stores attributes in a dict, as such, the order in which these attributes are listed in the xml text will NOT be preserved. Instead, they will be output in alphabetical order.
(also, comments are removed. I’m finding this rather annoying)

ie: the xml input text <b y='xxx' x='2'>some body</b> will be output as <b x='2' y='xxx'>some body</b>(after alphabetising the order parameters are defined)

This means when committing the original, and changed files to a revision control system (such as SVN, CSV, ClearCase, etc), a diff between the 2 files may not look pretty.

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