I try to use lxml to parse xml, but I have a problem:
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ValueError: invalid x escape2
Here is my code:
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from lxml import etree2
root=etree.fromstring('C:UsershptphuongDesktopxmltest.xml')3
I’m a newbie on lxml. Please help me to fix this issue. There is my xml content
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<?xml version="1.0"?>2
<catalog>3
<book id="bk101">4
<author>Gambardella, Matthew</author>5
<title>XML Developer's Guide</title>6
<genre>Computer</genre>7
<price>44.95</price>8
<publish_date>2000-10-01</publish_date>9
<description>An in-depth look at creating applications 10
with XML.</description>11
</book>12
<book id="bk102">13
<author>Ralls, Kim</author>14
<title>Midnight Rain</title>15
<genre>Fantasy</genre>16
<price>5.95</price>17
<publish_date>2000-12-16</publish_date>18
<description>A former architect battles corporate zombies, 19
an evil sorceress, and her own childhood to become queen 20
of the world.</description>21
</book>22
<book id="bk103">23
<author>Corets, Eva</author>24
<title>Maeve Ascendant</title>25
<genre>Fantasy</genre>26
<price>5.95</price>27
<publish_date>2000-11-17</publish_date>28
<description>After the collapse of a nanotechnology 29
society in England, the young survivors lay the 30
foundation for a new society.</description>31
</book>32
<book id="bk104">33
<author>Corets, Eva</author>34
<title>Oberon's Legacy</title>35
<genre>Fantasy</genre>36
<price>5.95</price>37
<publish_date>2001-03-10</publish_date>38
<description>In post-apocalypse England, the mysterious 39
agent known only as Oberon helps to create a new life 40
for the inhabitants of London. Sequel to Maeve 41
Ascendant.</description>42
</book>43
<book id="bk105">44
<author>Corets, Eva</author>45
<title>The Sundered Grail</title>46
<genre>Fantasy</genre>47
<price>5.95</price>48
<publish_date>2001-09-10</publish_date>49
<description>The two daughters of Maeve, half-sisters, 50
battle one another for control of England. Sequel to 51
Oberon's Legacy.</description>52
</book>53
<book id="bk106">54
<author>Randall, Cynthia</author>55
<title>Lover Birds</title>56
<genre>Romance</genre>57
<price>4.95</price>58
<publish_date>2000-09-02</publish_date>59
<description>When Carla meets Paul at an ornithology 60
conference, tempers fly as feathers get ruffled.</description>61
</book>62
<book id="bk107">63
<author>Thurman, Paula</author>64
<title>Splish Splash</title>65
<genre>Romance</genre>66
<price>4.95</price>67
<publish_date>2000-11-02</publish_date>68
<description>A deep sea diver finds true love twenty 69
thousand leagues beneath the sea.</description>70
</book>71
<book id="bk108">72
<author>Knorr, Stefan</author>73
<title>Creepy Crawlies</title>74
<genre>Horror</genre>75
<price>4.95</price>76
<publish_date>2000-12-06</publish_date>77
<description>An anthology of horror stories about roaches,78
centipedes, scorpions and other insects.</description>79
</book>80
<book id="bk109">81
<author>Kress, Peter</author>82
<title>Paradox Lost</title>83
<genre>Science Fiction</genre>84
<price>6.95</price>85
<publish_date>2000-11-02</publish_date>86
<description>After an inadvertant trip through a Heisenberg87
Uncertainty Device, James Salway discovers the problems 88
of being quantum.</description>89
</book>90
<book id="bk110">91
<author>O'Brien, Tim</author>92
<title>Microsoft .NET: The Programming Bible</title>93
<genre>Computer</genre>94
<price>36.95</price>95
<publish_date>2000-12-09</publish_date>96
<description>Microsoft's .NET initiative is explored in 97
detail in this deep programmer's reference.</description>98
</book>99
<book id="bk111">100
<author>O'Brien, Tim</author>101
<title>MSXML3: A Comprehensive Guide</title>102
<genre>Computer</genre>103
<price>36.95</price>104
<publish_date>2000-12-01</publish_date>105
<description>The Microsoft MSXML3 parser is covered in 106
detail, with attention to XML DOM interfaces, XSLT processing, 107
SAX and more.</description>108
</book>109
<book id="bk112">110
<author>Galos, Mike</author>111
<title>Visual Studio 7: A Comprehensive Guide</title>112
<genre>Computer</genre>113
<price>49.95</price>114
<publish_date>2001-04-16</publish_date>115
<description>Microsoft Visual Studio 7 is explored in depth,116
looking at how Visual Basic, Visual C++, C#, and ASP+ are 117
integrated into a comprehensive development 118
environment.</description>119
</book>120
</catalog>121
One more, could we have parse xml from url with lxml.
Thanks & Best Regards,
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Answer
The reason you are getting the error message invalid x escape is that you are using etree.fromstring() to attempt to load XML from a file. This function is used to load XML directly from a string, and you are passing it a path with in it.
In effect the function is trying to parse your file path as XML. The path contains escape characters with invalid characters following them (i.e. n would be a valid newline)
To load your XML from a file, you need to use the etree.parse() function as follows:
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from lxml import etree2
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root = etree.parse(r'C:UsershptphuongDesktopxmltest.xml')4
# Print the loaded XML5
print etree.tostring(root)6
When passing file paths to Python functions, you should normally prefix your string with r to tell Python not to try and escape the characters inside your path. For example c:temp would actually result in passing c:<tab character>emp, i.e. the t is converted into a tab character. Adding the r to the start stops this happening.
Alternatively you can pass the path as follows:
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path = "c:\folder1\folder2\myfile.xml"2