Python Pool: XML to CSV Conversion Using Python

Hello coders!! In this article we will learn how to convert an xml file into a csv file in python. So without much ado lets directly dive into the topic.

What is XML?

XML stands for Extensible Markup Language. It is a hierarchical data used to track data (small to medium amount) without using SQL as the backbone. It is designed to store the data and also transfer it. As a result, the XML format data is not very user-friendly, which gives rise to the need to change the format into a more easy and user-friendly one, like CSV.

What is CSV?

CSV stands for Comma Separated Values. As the name suggests, the data is separated using comma as delimiters. It is the most used format for import and export format of spreadsheets and databases. 

Converting an xml to csv file:

Consider the following XML file :

<State>
<Resident Id="100">
<Name>John Doe</Name>
        <Phone>1234567891</Phone>
        <Email>Johndoe@example.com</Email>
        
</Resident>
<Resident Id="101">
        <Name>Jane Doe</Name>
        <Phone>1234567891</Phone>
        <Email>Janedoe@example.com</Email>
        
</Resident>
.
.
.
.
</State>

In this xml file we are storing the details of the residents of a state. The information stored are:

• Id
• Name
• Phone Number
• Email Address

Here, we have taken only two details as an example:

• Id: 100
• Name: John Doe
• Phone: 1234567891
• Email: Johndoe@example.com

• Id: 101
• Name: Jane Doe
• Phone: 1234567891
• Email: Janedoe@example.com

Python Program to Convert XML to CSV

From the above example, we can understand that if the number of residents increases, it becomes difficult to read and understand the data. This is the reason why we will now convert this XML format file into a CSV format file.

import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
import csv

tree = ET.parse("sample.xml")
root = tree.getroot()

Resident_data = open('ResidentData.csv', 'w')

csvwriter = csv.writer(Resident_data)
resident_head = []

count = 0
for member in root.findall('Resident'):
        resident = []
        address_list = []
        if count == 0:
                name = member.find('Name').tag
                resident_head.append(name)
                Phone = member.find('Phone').tag
                resident_head.append(Phone)
                Email = member.find('Email').tag
                resident_head.append(Email)
                
                csvwriter.writerow(resident_head)
                count = count + 1

        name = member.find('Name').text
        resident.append(name)
        Phone = member.find('Phone').text
        resident.append(Phone)
        Email = member.find('Email').text
        resident.append(Email)
        
        csvwriter.writerow(resident)


Resident_data.close()

The output of above code:

Name	PhoneNumber	EmailAddress
John Doe	1234567891	Johndoe@example.com
Jane Doe	1234567891	Janedoe@example.com

Output

Explanation of code for Converting Python XML to CSV:

At first,two modules are imported:

• xml.etree.ElementTree: to create a simple API for parsing and implementing XML data
• CSV: to access the data in CSV format

The next two functions is used to parse through the xml file:

• parse(): to parses= the ‘Sample.xml’ file
• getroot(): returns the root element of ‘Sample.xml’

Next, we have opened a file ResidentData.csv dor writing

We then created a CSV writer object Resident_data

Then We iterated through the XML file, starting from the root element

We directly added the details of the root element to our CSV format file and incremented the counter value

For other entries we appended the details to the CSV format file without changing the counter value

After each entry we have also closed the particular row

When all the data is entered, we close the CSV format file as well.

Must Read

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Conclusion: Python XML to CSV

In this article, we learned about the conversion of Python XML and CSV format. We saw examples for each and further learned a python implementation of converting an XML file to a CSV file in Python.

However, if you have any doubts or questions, do let me know in the comment section below. I will try to help you as soon as possible.

Happy Pythoning!

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