{"id":6484,"library":"xmltojson","title":"xmltojson","description":"xmltojson is a Python module and command-line tool designed to quickly convert XML text or files into JSON format. It aims to provide a straightforward conversion mechanism for common use cases. The current stable version is 2.0.3, with releases typically focusing on stability and minor feature enhancements.","status":"active","version":"2.0.3","language":"en","source_language":"en","source_url":"https://github.com/shanahanjrs/xmltojson","tags":["xml","json","conversion","cli"],"install":[{"cmd":"pip install xmltojson","lang":"bash","label":"Install stable version"}],"dependencies":[{"reason":"Used internally for parsing XML into a dictionary structure before conversion to JSON.","package":"xmltodict","optional":false}],"imports":[{"symbol":"xmltojson","correct":"import xmltojson"}],"quickstart":{"code":"import xmltojson\n\nxml_string = '<person><name>Alice</name><age>30</age></person>'\njson_output = xmltojson.parse(xml_string)\n\nprint(json_output)\n# Expected output: {\"person\": {\"name\": \"Alice\", \"age\": \"30\"}} (exact formatting may vary)","lang":"python","description":"Demonstrates how to convert a simple XML string to JSON using the `parse` method."},"warnings":[{"fix":"Manually inspect generated JSON for array-like structures that might become single objects. Consider post-processing the JSON or using a library that allows explicit schema-driven conversion if strict array handling is required. The library might offer configuration for this, but it's a common XML-to-JSON challenge.","message":"Conversion of single-element XML lists to JSON arrays can be inconsistent. XML does not inherently distinguish between a single element and a list of one element. Some converters might output a single JSON object instead of a JSON array containing one object, which can break consuming code expecting an array.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"All versions"},{"fix":"Client-side type coercion is often necessary after conversion. If possible, define a JSON schema and validate/transform the output against it, or use custom parsing logic to detect and convert string representations of numbers/booleans/nulls to their correct JSON types.","message":"XML is fundamentally text-based, so numerical, boolean, or null values in XML often get converted to strings in JSON. This can lead to type mismatches in downstream applications expecting specific JSON data types.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"All versions"},{"fix":"Consult `xmltodict` documentation for its specific conventions on attributes and namespaces. If `xmltojson` provides configuration options to control this, utilize them. Otherwise, be prepared to clean or transform the JSON output to match the expected structure regarding attributes and namespaces.","message":"XML attributes and namespaces are handled according to the underlying conversion logic (likely `xmltodict`). By default, attributes might be prefixed (e.g., with '@') or even omitted, and namespaces may be stripped or embedded in the key names, which might not be intuitive or desired.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"All versions"},{"fix":"Always validate XML input for well-formedness before passing it to `xmltojson.parse()`. Implement robust error handling around conversion calls to catch and manage potential parsing exceptions.","message":"Providing malformed or empty XML input can lead to conversion failures, often manifesting as an 'ExecutionFailed' error (if using it in a larger pipeline or CLI context), or parsing exceptions.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"All versions"}],"env_vars":null,"last_verified":"2026-04-15T00:00:00.000Z","next_check":"2026-07-14T00:00:00.000Z"}