python - pretty print xml

Given :

<message><warning>Louis was here</warning></message>

You can use :

import lxml.etree as etree # deb package : python-lxml

fic='test.xml'
x = etree.parse(fic)
with open(fic+'.pretty','w') as f: f.write(etree.tostring(x, pretty_print =
    True))

Output :

<message>
  <warning>Louis was here</warning>
</message>

Many parsers don’t like extra spaces surrounding the content of text nodes

Given :

<message>
    <warning>
    Louis was here
    </warning>
</message>

You can use :

import re

def fixxml(xmlstr):
    fix = re.compile(r'((?<=>)(\n[ ]*)(?=[^< ]))|(?<=[^> ])(\n[ ]*)(?=<)')
    return re.sub(fix, '', xmlstr.expandtabs())

fic='test.xml'
with open(fic) as f: print fixxml(f.read())

Output :

<message>
   <warning>Louis was here</warning>
</message>