Python program to convert XML to Dictionary

Last Updated : 14 Sep, 2021

In this article, we will discuss how to convert an XML to a dictionary using Python.

Modules Used

xmltodict: It is a Python module that makes working with XML feel like you are working with [JSON]. Run the following command in the terminal to install the module.

Syntax:

pip install xmltodict

pprint: The pprint module provides a capability to “pretty-print” arbitrary Python data structures in a well-formatted and more readable way.

Approach

Import necessary module to working space.
Open the XML File in Read-only mode and read the contents using file.read() and store it in a variable.

Syntax:

with open('filename', 'r', encoding='utf-8') as file:
    my_xml = file.read()

Use xmltodict.parse() to parse the content from the variable and convert it into Dictionary.

Syntax :

xmltodict.parse(xml_input, encoding=’utf-8′, expat=expat, process_namespaces=False, namespace_separator=’:’, **kwargs)

Use pprint(pretty print) to print the dictionary in well-formatted and readable way.

Syntax :

pprint.pprint(object, stream=None, indent=1, width=80, depth=None, *, compact=False, sort_dicts=True)

Example: Converting XML to dictionary

File Used:

Python3

# Import the required modules 
import xmltodict 
import pprint 
  
# Open the file and read the contents 
with open('example.xml', 'r', encoding='utf-8') as file: 
    my_xml = file.read() 
  
# Use xmltodict to parse and convert  
# the XML document 
my_dict = xmltodict.parse(my_xml) 
  
# Print the dictionary 
pprint.pprint(my_dict, indent=2) 

Output:

Example 2: Converting XML to dictionary

File Used:

Python3

# Import the required modules 
import xmltodict 
import pprint 
  
# Open the file and read the contents 
with open('example_2.xml', 'r', encoding='utf-8') as file: 
    my_xml = file.read() 
  
# Use xmltodict to parse and convert the  
# XML document 
my_dict = xmltodict.parse(my_xml) 
  
# Print the dictionary 
pprint.pprint(my_dict, indent=2) 