A simple XML file and string reader that is able to read big XML files and strings by using streams (iterators), with an option to convert to dictionaries

xml_stream comprises two helper functions:

When given a path to a file and the name of the tag that holds the relevant data, it returns an iterator of the data as xml.etree.ElementTree.Element object by default, or as dicts when to_dict argument is True

When given an XML string and the name of the tag that holds the relevant data, it returns an iterator of the data as xml.etree.ElementTree.Element object by default, or as dicts when to_dict argument is True

• Python +3.6

• Install the package

  pip install xml_stream

• Import the read_xml_file and the read_xml_string classes and use accordingly

  from xml_stream import read_xml_file, read_xml_string
  
  xml_string = """
  <company>
        <staff>
            <operations_department>
                <employees>
                    <team>Marketing</team>
                    <location name="head office" address="Kampala, Uganda" />
                    <bio first_name="John" last_name="Doe">John Doe</bio>
                    <bio first_name="Jane" last_name="Doe">Jane Doe</bio>
                    <bio first_name="Peter" last_name="Doe">Peter Doe</bio>
                </employees>
                <employees>
                    <team>Customer Service</team>
                    <location name="Kampala branch" address="Kampala, Uganda" />
                    <bio first_name="Mary" last_name="Doe">Mary Doe</bio>
                    <bio first_name="Harry" last_name="Doe">Harry Doe</bio>
                    <bio first_name="Paul" last_name="Doe">Paul Doe</bio>
                </employees>
            </operations_department>
        </staff>
  </company>
  """
  
  file_path = '...' # path to your XML file
  
  # For XML strings, use read_xml_string which returns an iterator  
  for element in read_xml_string(xml_string, records_tag='staff'):
      # returns the element as xml.etree.ElementTree.Element by default
      # ...do something with the element
      print(element)
  
  # Note that if a tag is namespaced with say _prefix:tag_ and domain is _xmlns:prefix="https://example",
  # the records_tag from that tag will be '{https://example}tag'
  for element_as_dict in read_xml_string(xml_string, records_tag='staff', to_dict=True):
      # returns the element as dictionary
      # ...do something with the element dictionary
      print(element_as_dict)
      # will print
      """
      {
            'operations_department': {
                'employees': [
                    [
                        {
                            'team': 'Marketing',
                            'location': {
                                'name': 'head office',
                                'address': 'Kampala, Uganda'
                            },
                            'first_name': 'John',
                            'last_name': 'Doe',
                            '_value': 'John Doe'
  
                        },
                        {
                            'team': 'Marketing',
                            'location': {
                                'name': 'head office',
                                'address': 'Kampala, Uganda'
                            },
                            'first_name': 'Jane',
                            'last_name': 'Doe',
                            '_value': 'Jane Doe'
  
                        },
                        {
                            'team': 'Marketing',
                            'location': {
                                'name': 'head office',
                                'address': 'Kampala, Uganda'
                            },
                            'first_name': 'Peter',
                            'last_name': 'Doe',
                            '_value': 'Peter Doe'
  
                        }, ],
                    [
                        {
                            'team': 'Customer Service',
                            'location': {
                                'name': 'Kampala branch',
                                'address': 'Kampala, Uganda'
                            },
                            'first_name': 'Mary',
                            'last_name': 'Doe',
                            '_value': 'Mary Doe'
  
                        },
                        {
                            'team': 'Customer Service',
                            'location': {
                                'name': 'Kampala branch',
                                'address': 'Kampala, Uganda'
                            },
                            'first_name': 'Harry',
                            'last_name': 'Doe',
                            '_value': 'Harry Doe'
  
                        },
                        {
                            'team': 'Customer Service',
                            'location': {
                                'name': 'Kampala branch',
                                'address': 'Kampala, Uganda'
                            },
                            'first_name': 'Paul',
                            'last_name': 'Doe',
                            '_value': 'Paul Doe'
  
                        }
                    ],
                ]
            }
      }
      """
  
  # For XML files (even really large ones), use read_xml_file which also returns an iterator  
  for element in read_xml_file(file_path, records_tag='staff'):
      # returns the element as xml.etree.ElementTree.Element by default
      # ...do something with the element
      print(element)
  
  for element_as_dict in read_xml_file(file_path, records_tag='staff', to_dict=True):
      # returns the element as dictionary
      # ...do something with the element dictionary
      print(element_as_dict)
      # see the print output for read_xml_string

• Clone the repo and enter its root folder

  git clone https://github.com/sopherapps/xml_stream.git && cd xml_stream

• Create a virtual environment and activate it

  virtualenv -p /usr/bin/python3.6 env && source env/bin/activate

• Install the dependencies

  pip install -r requirements.txt

• Download a huge xml file for test purposes and save it in the /test folder as huge_mock.xml

  wget http://aiweb.cs.washington.edu/research/projects/xmltk/xmldata/data/SwissProt/SwissProt.xml && mv SwissProt.xml test/huge_mock.xml

• Run the test command

  python -m unittest

• This Stack Overflow Answer about converting XML to dict was very helpful.
• This Real Python tutorial on publishing packages was very helpful

Copyright (c) 2020 Martin Ahindura Licensed under the MIT License

All glory be to God