problem with the new lines when I use toprettyxml()

Question

Hi All,

I'm currently using the toprettyxml() function of the xml.dom module in a python script and I have some troubles with the newlines. If don't use the newl parameter or if I use toprettyxml(newl='\n') actually it displays several new lines instead of only one.

For instance

f = open(filename, 'w')
f.write(dom1.toprettyxml(encoding='UTF-8'))
f.close()

displayed:

<params>


    <param name="Level" value="#LEVEL#"/>


    <param name="Code" value="281"/>


</params>

Does anyone know where the problem comes from and how I can use it? FYI I'm using Python 2.6.1

Answer 1

Are you viewing the resulting file on Windows? If so, try using toprettyxml(newl='\r\n').

Answer 2

If you don't mind installing new packages, try beautifulsoup. I had very good experiences with its xml prettyfier.

Answer 3

toprettyxml() is quiet awful. It is not a matter of Windows and '\r\n'. Trying any string as the newlparameter shows that two many lines are being added. Not only that, but other blanks (that may cause you problems when a machine reads the xml) are also added.

Some workarounds available at
http://ronrothman.com/public/leftbraned/xml-dom-minidom-toprettyxml-and-silly-whitespace