python - Can I clone an xml node in place? -

python - Can I clone an xml node in place? -

bit of newbie python , more xml bear me:)

i have existing xml file construction below. want clone <zone> node matches <name>.text == "bill" or whatever specify.

i tried looping through , using elem.append(copy.deepcopy(---)) ended appending nodes got added loop - needless ran while!

can in place or have write file? add together code afraid mangled , complicate things!

hope i've made problem clear.

<dbname> <level_1> <zone> <name>fred</name> <att1>xxx</att1> <att2>yyy</att2> </zone> <zone> <name>bill</name> <att1>111</att1> <att2>222</att2> </zone> <zone> <name>bob</name> <att1>333</att1> <att2>444</att2> </zone> </level_1> </dbname>

ok may have worked out solution comments / improvements welcome.

this not work. appended items stuff "for" loop:

from lxml import etree et import re-create tree = et.parse(xml_file) root = tree.getroot() elem in root: source in elem: if source.find('name').text == "bill": elem.append(copy.deepcopy(source))

this appear work:

from lxml import etree et import re-create tree = et.parse(xml_file) root = tree.getroot() elem in root: zone in elem.findall('zone'): if zone.find('name').text == "bill": elem.append(copy.deepcopy(zone))

your sec effort looks correct. problem you're modifying object while trying iterate on it.

in case of for source in elem, appears lxml iterates on kid nodes lazily, new node added before lxml reaches end included in iteration. using .findall, new list of descendants isn't affected subsequent changes elem.

note working code has different semantics now; find all descendant zone tags, not children. given schema, doesn't matter, it's work know don't need.

you prepare first effort doing:

for source in list(elem):

this creates separate list of kid nodes, modifications elem safe , won't impact loop.

and if want explicitly restrict looping zones:

for source in list(elem.iter('zone')):

python xml python-3.x deep-copy