Parsing XML from string reports “junk” in my file, I don't know how to locate it

Question

I'm trying to parse an XML string with Element Tree. This string comes from many dict values joined together. There is no root node, but it worked fine the first time.

The first time I did it and it worked:

   for value in data.values():
        myxml = ' '.join(value)
        tree = ET.fromstring(myxml)

But with the same case, just another dictionary, it doesn't work. My code to do that is simply:

values = [x for x in dict_fasi.values()]
    myxml_fasi = ' '.join(values)
tree2 = ET.fromstring(myxml_fasi)

I also tried with the loop as before and it didn't work. The error says: xml.etree.ElementTree.ParseError: junk after document element: line 8, column 20 .

Line 8 should be:

</new_line> <new_line>

And the XML string is:

<new_line>
          <text font="NUMPTY+ImprintMTnum" bbox="297.284,540.828,300.188,553.310" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="12.482">della quale non conosce che una parte;] </text>
          <text font="PYNIYO+ImprintMTnum-Italic" bbox="322.455,540.839,328.251,553.566" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="12.727">prima</text>
          <text font="NUMPTY+ImprintMTnum" bbox="331.206,545.345,334.683,552.834" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="7.489">1</text>
          <text font="NUMPTY+ImprintMTnum" bbox="177.602,528.028,180.850,540.510" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="12.482">che nonconosce ancora appieno;</text>
          <text font="NUMPTY+ImprintMTnum" bbox="189.430,532.545,192.908,540.034" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="7.489">2</text>
          <text font="NUMPTY+ImprintMTnum" bbox="203.879,528.028,208.975,540.510" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="12.482">che</text>
        </new_line> <new_line>
          <text font="QKWQNQ+ImprintMTnum-Bold" bbox="315.109,462.272,319.863,472.957" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="10.685">5</text>
          <text font="NUMPTY+ImprintMTnum" bbox="368.916,461.828,372.743,474.310" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="12.482">avederci]</text>
          <text font="PYNIYO+ImprintMTnum-Italic" bbox="86.577,449.039,92.373,461.766" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="12.727">sps.a</text>
          <text font="NUMPTY+ImprintMTnum" bbox="167.611,449.028,172.707,461.510" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="12.482">dove io andava a</text>
          <text font="QKWQNQ+ImprintMTnum-Bold" bbox="68.031,421.672,72.786,432.357" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="10.685">5</text>
          <text font="NUMPTY+ImprintMTnum" bbox="137.296,421.228,140.200,433.710" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="12.482">tante libertà] </text>
          <text font="PYNIYO+ImprintMTnum-Italic" bbox="161.868,421.239,167.664,433.966" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="12.727">prima</text>
          <text font="NUMPTY+ImprintMTnum" bbox="170.784,425.745,174.262,433.234" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="7.489">1</text>
          <text font="NUMPTY+ImprintMTnum" bbox="174.297,421.228,183.920,433.710" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="12.482">m</text>
          <text font="MUVAOR+Symbol" bbox="194.367,421.612,199.376,431.672" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="10.060">&lt;&gt;</text>
          <text font="NUMPTY+ImprintMTnum" bbox="208.349,425.745,211.827,433.234" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="7.489">2</text>
          <text font="NUMPTY+ImprintMTnum" bbox="244.601,421.228,250.976,433.710" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="12.482">certe lib</text>
          <text font="MUVAOR+Symbol" bbox="250.901,421.612,255.910,431.672" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="10.060">&lt;</text>
          <text font="NUMPTY+ImprintMTnum" bbox="269.331,421.228,274.426,433.710" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="12.482">ertà</text>
          <text font="MUVAOR+Symbol" bbox="274.363,421.612,279.373,431.672" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="10.060">&gt;</text>
        </new_line> <new_line>

The first XML string the works, instead, is like this:

<new_line>
          <text font="QKWQNQ+ImprintMTnum-Bold" bbox="234.782,118.872,239.536,129.558" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="10.685">80</text>
          <text font="NUMPTY+ImprintMTnum" bbox="360.280,118.428,363.184,130.911" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="12.482">pazienza, e la prudenza.] </text>
          <text font="PYNIYO+ImprintMTnum-Italic" bbox="369.339,118.440,375.135,131.167" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="12.727">da</text>
          <text font="NUMPTY+ImprintMTnum" bbox="113.588,105.629,118.684,118.111" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="12.482">pa-zienza</text>
          <text font="MUVAOR+Symbol" bbox="120.415,105.707,124.422,117.543" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="11.835">=</text>
        </new_line>
<new_line>
          <text font="NUMPTY+ImprintMTnum" bbox="194.095,105.629,196.999,118.111" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="12.482">Cristoforo] </text>
          <text font="PYNIYO+ImprintMTnum-Italic" bbox="214.031,105.640,219.827,118.367" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="12.727">sts.a</text>
          <text font="NUMPTY+ImprintMTnum" bbox="241.600,81.508,247.396,93.991" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="12.482">Galdino 72</text>
          <text font="SZWUPJ+ImprintExpertMT" bbox="272.785,614.422,276.490,625.380" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="10.958">  </text>
          <text font="NUMPTY+ImprintMTnum" bbox="53.923,592.408,58.102,602.646" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="10.238">34c</text>
          <text font="QKWQNQ+ImprintMTnum-Bold" bbox="72.640,592.472,77.394,603.157" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="10.685">80</text>
          <text font="NUMPTY+ImprintMTnum" bbox="187.701,592.028,190.605,604.510" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="12.482">troverà … immaginare] </text>
          <text font="PYNIYO+ImprintMTnum-Italic" bbox="201.265,592.039,204.169,604.766" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="12.727">da </text>
          <text font="NUMPTY+ImprintMTnum" bbox="305.701,592.028,310.796,604.510" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="12.482">qualche rimedio inaspe</text>
          <text font="MUVAOR+Symbol" bbox="310.691,592.412,315.701,602.472" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="10.060">&lt;</text>
          <text font="NUMPTY+ImprintMTnum" bbox="331.518,592.028,337.314,604.510" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="12.482">ttato</text>
          <text font="MUVAOR+Symbol" bbox="337.154,592.412,342.163,602.472" colourspace="DeviceGray" ncolour="0" size="10.060">&gt;</text>
        </new_line>

Maybe it's a problem of the opening and closing of the new_line tag, but I don't know how to solve it.

Answer 1

The term "junk" in the error message seems like a rather unfair value judgement; but what it means is that the parser expects to see a single top-level element, and when it gets to the end of that element (and any trailing comments or PIs) it expects to see the end of file. If there's another element start tag, then it's not a well-formed XML document.

You say you are aware there is no root node, but you seem to be unaware that this makes the document ill-formed. You say it worked the first time: well, it shouldn't have worked.