By default, if you use ElementTree to write a new xml file, you will find the new xml file is a single line file, which is not pretty to read by human. Below function will do the trick to make it multiple line and more pretty
def indent(self,elem, level=0):
"""
One function that makes writting xml file pretty
"""
i = "\n" + level*" "
if len(elem):
if not elem.text or not elem.text.strip():
elem.text = i + " "
if not elem.tail or not elem.tail.strip():
elem.tail = i
for elem in elem:
self.indent(elem, level+1)
if not elem.tail or not elem.tail.strip():
elem.tail = i
else:
if level and (not elem.tail or not elem.tail.strip()):
elem.tail = i
Using it is very simple, just get the element root and then indent it.
root = xml_tree.getroot()
indent(root, level=0)
xml_tree.write("file")
Fordward from http://effbot.org/zone/element-lib.htm#prettyprint and http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/python/python/831813
