For ordinary text that belongs inside an XML element, create an element with Python’s xml.etree.ElementTree, assign the string to its .text, and serialize it with ET.tostring(). The serializer handles XML escaping. Use encoding="unicode" when you need a Python str rather than the default bytes.
Convert a string into an XML element
This example wraps text in a <message> element. Characters such as < and & are escaped when ElementTree serializes the element:
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
root = ET.Element("message")
root.text = "Use <, &, and > safely"
xml_text = ET.tostring(root, encoding="unicode")
print(xml_text)The result is a string containing XML markup, similar to <message>Use <, &, and > safely</message>. It is serialized XML, not an XML element object. ElementTree provides APIs for creating and parsing XML data; see the official ElementTree tutorial.
Put the value in the right XML context
Element text
For a plain string that should appear between an element’s opening and closing tags, assign it to element.text. Serialize the element rather than concatenating the string into markup by hand. The serializer applies escaping in the correct context.
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Attribute value
When the value belongs in an attribute, assign it through the element’s attribute mapping:
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
item = ET.Element("item", {"label": 'A & "B"'})
xml_text = ET.tostring(item, encoding="unicode")ElementTree handles the attribute’s quoting and escaping during serialization. If manually constructing markup is unavoidable, Python’s xml.sax.saxutils.quoteattr() prepares a quoted attribute value. The SAX utilities documentation distinguishes that from escape(), which escapes text characters such as ampersands and angle brackets but does not quote an attribute value.
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Raw XML markup
If the string already contains XML markup and you want an element tree from it, parse it with ET.fromstring():
element = ET.fromstring("<message>Hello</message>")Parsing and serialization do different jobs: fromstring() reads markup into an element; tostring() writes markup from an element. Do not treat ordinary text as markup or insert untrusted markup into an XML document without considering validity and trust.
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Choose between a string and bytes
ET.tostring(element) returns bytes by default, using the default us-ascii encoding. Specify encoding="unicode" for a Python string, or an encoding such as "utf-8" when you need encoded bytes.
| Call | Result | Use when |
|---|---|---|
ET.tostring(element) |
Bytes (default us-ascii encoding) |
The destination expects binary data. |
ET.tostring(element, encoding="unicode") |
Python str |
You need XML text for a text-oriented API or text stream. |
ET.tostring(element, encoding="utf-8") |
UTF-8 encoded bytes | The destination expects bytes encoded as UTF-8. |
Match the result to its destination: text streams accept strings, while binary streams accept bytes. See ElementTree’s tostring() documentation for serialization options.
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When to use SAX escaping helpers
For normal XML generation, building an ElementTree element and serializing it is the safer, clearer choice. The SAX helpers are useful for a narrow case where you need to escape a fragment yourself:
xml.sax.saxutils.escape(text)escapes&,<, and>in text content.xml.sax.saxutils.quoteattr(value)prepares a value for use as a quoted attribute.
These helpers do not replace constructing a complete XML document. In particular, escaping text is not enough to make a value safe as an attribute; attribute values need appropriate quoting too. See the Python SAX utilities reference.
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Common mistakes and security considerations
- Escaping in the wrong order: replacing ampersands after introducing entities such as
<can escape those entities again. Let ElementTree serialize values whenever possible. - Confusing markup with text: a string like
<b>hello</b>assigned as element text is content, not a nested element. Parse it if you intend it to be XML markup. - Assuming the result is a string: the default
tostring()result is bytes. Chooseencoding="unicode"when the receiving code needsstr. - Parsing untrusted XML without review: XML parsing can have security implications, including denial-of-service and local-file or network-related risks in some settings. Check the Python XML processing security guidance for the parser, Python build, and deployment you use;
pyexpat.EXPAT_VERSIONcan help identify the Expat version in the environment.
Canonicalization is not ordinary conversion
Basic serialization is usually enough to convert a value into XML. If a consuming protocol specifically requires canonical XML—for example, for byte comparisons or digital signatures—Python documents ElementTree.canonicalize() as a C14N 2.0 transformation. Use it only when that protocol requires canonical output; it is not a substitute for ordinary element construction and serialization. See the Python 3.12 ElementTree documentation.
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