I want to parse an XML file in python and assert some tag orders.

Question

Asked: June 16, 20262026-06-16T00:06:44+00:00 2026-06-16T00:06:44+00:00

I want to parse an XML file in python and assert some tag orders. I have started with ElementTree. Here is my code:

import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
tree = ET.parse('test.xml')
root = tree.getroot()

And here is the test.xml:

<a>
<b>
for (i=0; i<10; i++){
    k++;
}
</b>
</a>

The problem is, the parser stucks at the for statement with the following error:

xml.parsers.expat.ExpatError: not well-formed (invalid token): line 3, column 12

I need the parser to ignore the body of tags (ignoring anything comes inside the <b></b>). Is there a way to do so?

Thanks in advance.

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Editorial Team · Answer 1 · 2026-06-16T00:06:45+00:00

Editorial Team

Your XML markup is invalid XML markup!

You need to enclose the offending text inside a CDATA section.

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