Update some parts of the xml.etree documentation.

Doc/library/xml.etree.elementtree.rst

@@ -9,9 +9,9 @@
 
 .. versionadded:: 2.5
 
-The Element type is a flexible container object, designed to store hierarchical
-data structures in memory. The type can be described as a cross between a list
-and a dictionary.
+The :class:`Element` type is a flexible container object, designed to store
+hierarchical data structures in memory.  The type can be described as a cross
+between a list and a dictionary.
 
 Each element has a number of properties associated with it:
 
@@ -35,8 +35,14 @@ convert it from and to XML.
 A C implementation of this API is available as :mod:`xml.etree.cElementTree`.
 
 See http://effbot.org/zone/element-index.htm for tutorials and links to other
-docs. Fredrik Lundh's page is also the location of the development version of the
-xml.etree.ElementTree.
+docs.  Fredrik Lundh's page is also the location of the development version of
+the xml.etree.ElementTree.
+
+.. versionchanged:: 2.7
+   The ElementTree API is updated to 1.3.  For more information, see
+   `Introducing ElementTree 1.3
+   <http://effbot.org/zone/elementtree-13-intro.htm>`_.
+
 
 .. _elementtree-functions:
 
@@ -46,17 +52,17 @@ Functions
 
 .. function:: Comment([text])
 
-   Comment element factory.  This factory function creates a special element that
-   will be serialized as an XML comment by the standard serializer. The comment
-   string can be either an 8-bit ASCII string or a Unicode string. *text* is a
-   string containing the comment string. Returns an element instance representing
-   a comment.
+   Comment element factory.  This factory function creates a special element
+   that will be serialized as an XML comment by the standard serializer.  The
+   comment string can be either a bytestring or a Unicode string.  *text* is a
+   string containing the comment string.  Returns an element instance
+   representing a comment.
 
 
 .. function:: dump(elem)
 
-   Writes an element tree or element structure to sys.stdout.  This function should
-   be used for debugging only.
+   Writes an element tree or element structure to sys.stdout.  This function
+   should be used for debugging only.
 
    The exact output format is implementation dependent.  In this version, it's
    written as an ordinary XML file.
@@ -66,16 +72,16 @@ Functions
 
 .. function:: fromstring(text)
 
-   Parses an XML section from a string constant.  Same as XML. *text* is a string
-   containing XML data. Returns an Element instance.
+   Parses an XML section from a string constant.  Same as XML.  *text* is a
+   string containing XML data.  Returns an :class:`Element` instance.
 
 
 .. function:: fromstringlist(sequence[, parser])
 
-   Parses an XML document from a sequence of string fragments. *sequence* is a list
-   or other sequence containing XML data fragments. *parser* is an optional parser
-   instance. If not given, the standard :class:`XMLParser` parser is used.
-   Returns an Element instance.
+   Parses an XML document from a sequence of string fragments.  *sequence* is a
+   list or other sequence containing XML data fragments.  *parser* is an
+   optional parser instance.  If not given, the standard :class:`XMLParser`
+   parser is used.  Returns an :class:`Element` instance.
 
    .. versionadded:: 2.7
 
@@ -89,11 +95,11 @@ Functions
 .. function:: iterparse(source[, events[, parser]])
 
    Parses an XML section into an element tree incrementally, and reports what's
-   going on to the user. *source* is a filename or file object containing XML data.
-   *events* is a list of events to report back.  If omitted, only "end" events are
-   reported.  *parser* is an optional parser instance. If not given, the standard
-   :class:`XMLParser` parser is used. Returns an :term:`iterator`
-   providing ``(event, elem)`` pairs.
+   going on to the user.  *source* is a filename or file object containing XML
+   data.  *events* is a list of events to report back.  If omitted, only "end"
+   events are reported.  *parser* is an optional parser instance.  If not
+   given, the standard :class:`XMLParser` parser is used.  Returns an
+   :term:`iterator` providing ``(event, elem)`` pairs.
 
    .. note::
 
@@ -109,53 +115,56 @@ Functions
 .. function:: parse(source[, parser])
 
    Parses an XML section into an element tree.  *source* is a filename or file
-   object containing XML data. *parser* is an optional parser instance.  If not
-   given, the standard :class:`XMLParser` parser is used. Returns an
+   object containing XML data.  *parser* is an optional parser instance.  If
+   not given, the standard :class:`XMLParser` parser is used.  Returns an
    :class:`ElementTree` instance.
 
 
 .. function:: ProcessingInstruction(target[, text])
 
-   PI element factory.  This factory function creates a special element that will
-   be serialized as an XML processing instruction. *target* is a string containing
-   the PI target. *text* is a string containing the PI contents, if given. Returns
-   an element instance, representing a processing instruction.
+   PI element factory.  This factory function creates a special element that
+   will be serialized as an XML processing instruction.  *target* is a string
+   containing the PI target.  *text* is a string containing the PI contents, if
+   given.  Returns an element instance, representing a processing instruction.
 
 
 .. function:: register_namespace(prefix, uri)
 
-   Registers a namespace prefix.  The registry is global, and any existing mapping
-   for either the given prefix or the namespace URI will be removed. *prefix* is a
-   namespace prefix. *uri* is a namespace uri.  Tags and attributes in this namespace
-   will be serialized with the given prefix, if at all possible.
+   Registers a namespace prefix.  The registry is global, and any existing
+   mapping for either the given prefix or the namespace URI will be removed.
+   *prefix* is a namespace prefix.  *uri* is a namespace uri.  Tags and
+   attributes in this namespace will be serialized with the given prefix, if at
+   all possible.
 
    .. versionadded:: 2.7
 
 
 .. function:: SubElement(parent, tag[, attrib[,  **extra]])
 
-   Subelement factory.  This function creates an element instance, and appends it
-   to an existing element.
+   Subelement factory.  This function creates an element instance, and appends
+   it to an existing element.
 
-   The element name, attribute names, and attribute values can be either 8-bit
-   ASCII strings or Unicode strings. *parent* is the parent element. *tag* is the
-   subelement name. *attrib* is an optional dictionary, containing element
-   attributes. *extra* contains additional attributes, given as keyword arguments.
-   Returns an element instance.
+   The element name, attribute names, and attribute values can be either
+   bytestrings or Unicode strings.  *parent* is the parent element.  *tag* is
+   the subelement name.  *attrib* is an optional dictionary, containing element
+   attributes.  *extra* contains additional attributes, given as keyword
+   arguments.  Returns an element instance.
 
 
 .. function:: tostring(element[, encoding])
 
-   Generates a string representation of an XML element, including all subelements.
-   *element* is an Element instance. *encoding* is the output encoding (default is
-   US-ASCII). Returns an encoded string containing the XML data.
+   Generates a string representation of an XML element, including all
+   subelements.  *element* is an :class:`Element` instance.  *encoding* is the
+   output encoding (default is US-ASCII).  Returns an encoded string containing
+   the XML data.
 
 
 .. function:: tostringlist(element[, encoding])
 
-   Generates a string representation of an XML element, including all subelements.
-   *element* is an Element instance. *encoding* is the output encoding (default is
-   US-ASCII). Returns a sequence object containing the XML data.
+   Generates a string representation of an XML element, including all
+   subelements.  *element* is an :class:`Element` instance.  *encoding* is the
+   output encoding (default is US-ASCII).  Returns a sequence object containing
+   the XML data.
 
    .. versionadded:: 2.7
 
@@ -163,9 +172,9 @@ Functions
 .. function:: XML(text[, parser])
 
    Parses an XML section from a string constant.  This function can be used to
-   embed "XML literals" in Python code. *text* is a string containing XML data.
-   *parser* is an optional parser instance. If not given, the standard
-   :class:`XMLParser` parser is used. Returns an Element instance.
+   embed "XML literals" in Python code.  *text* is a string containing XML
+   data.  *parser* is an optional parser instance.  If not given, the standard
+   :class:`XMLParser` parser is used.  Returns an :class:`Element` instance.
 
 
 .. function:: XMLID(text[, parser])
@@ -173,8 +182,8 @@ Functions
    Parses an XML section from a string constant, and also returns a dictionary
    which maps from element id:s to elements.  *text* is a string containing XML
    data.  *parser* is an optional parser instance.  If not given, the standard
-   :class:`XMLParser` parser is used. Returns a tuple containing an Element
-   instance and a dictionary.
+   :class:`XMLParser` parser is used.  Returns a tuple containing an
+   :class:`Element` instance and a dictionary.
 
 
 .. _elementtree-element-objects:
@@ -188,42 +197,43 @@ Element Objects
    Element class.  This class defines the Element interface, and provides a
    reference implementation of this interface.
 
-   The element name, attribute names, and attribute values can be either 8-bit
-   ASCII strings or Unicode strings. *tag* is the element name. *attrib* is an
-   optional dictionary, containing element attributes. *extra* contains additional
-   attributes, given as keyword arguments.
+   The element name, attribute names, and attribute values can be either
+   bytestrings or Unicode strings.  *tag* is the element name.  *attrib* is
+   an optional dictionary, containing element attributes.  *extra* contains
+   additional attributes, given as keyword arguments.
 
 
    .. attribute:: tag
 
-      A string identifying what kind of data this element represents (the element
-      type, in other words).
+      A string identifying what kind of data this element represents (the
+      element type, in other words).
 
 
    .. attribute:: text
 
-      The *text* attribute can be used to hold additional data associated with the
-      element. As the name implies this attribute is usually a string but may be
-      any application-specific object. If the element is created from an XML file
-      the attribute will contain any text found between the element tags.
+      The *text* attribute can be used to hold additional data associated with
+      the element.  As the name implies this attribute is usually a string but
+      may be any application-specific object.  If the element is created from
+      an XML file the attribute will contain any text found between the element
+      tags.
 
 
    .. attribute:: tail
 
-      The *tail* attribute can be used to hold additional data associated with the
-      element. This attribute is usually a string but may be any
-      application-specific object. If the element is created from an XML file the
-      attribute will contain any text found after the element's end tag and before
-      the next tag.
+      The *tail* attribute can be used to hold additional data associated with
+      the element.  This attribute is usually a string but may be any
+      application-specific object.  If the element is created from an XML file
+      the attribute will contain any text found after the element's end tag and
+      before the next tag.
 
 
    .. attribute:: attrib
 
       A dictionary containing the element's attributes.  Note that while the
       *attrib* value is always a real mutable Python dictionary, an ElementTree
-      implementation may choose to use another internal representation, and create
-      the dictionary only if someone asks for it. To take advantage of such
-      implementations, use the dictionary methods below whenever possible.
+      implementation may choose to use another internal representation, and
+      create the dictionary only if someone asks for it.  To take advantage of
+      such implementations, use the dictionary methods below whenever possible.
 
    The following dictionary-like methods work on the element attributes.
 
@@ -249,8 +259,8 @@ Element Objects
 
    .. method:: keys()
 
-      Returns the elements attribute names as a list. The names are returned in an
-      arbitrary order.
+      Returns the elements attribute names as a list.  The names are returned
+      in an arbitrary order.
 
 
    .. method:: set(key, value)
@@ -262,8 +272,8 @@ Element Objects
 
    .. method:: append(subelement)
 
-      Adds the element *subelement* to the end of this elements internal list of
-      subelements.
+      Adds the element *subelement* to the end of this elements internal list
+      of subelements.
 
 
    .. method:: extend(subelements)
@@ -276,22 +286,22 @@ Element Objects
 
    .. method:: find(match)
 
-      Finds the first subelement matching *match*.  *match* may be a tag name or path.
-      Returns an element instance or ``None``.
+      Finds the first subelement matching *match*.  *match* may be a tag name
+      or path.  Returns an element instance or ``None``.
 
 
    .. method:: findall(match)
 
-      Finds all subelements matching *match*.  *match* may be a tag name or path.
-      Returns an iterable yielding all matching elements in document order.
+      Finds all matching subelements, by tag name or path.  Returns a list
+      containing all matching elements in document order.
 
 
-   .. method:: findtext(condition[, default])
+   .. method:: findtext(match[, default])
 
-      Finds text for the first subelement matching *condition*.  *condition* may be
-      a tag name or path. Returns the text content of the first matching element,
-      or *default* if no element was found.  Note that if the matching element has
-      no text content an empty string is returned.
+      Finds text for the first subelement matching *match*.  *match* may be
+      a tag name or path.  Returns the text content of the first matching
+      element, or *default* if no element was found.  Note that if the matching
+      element has no text content an empty string is returned.
 
 
    .. method:: getchildren()
@@ -313,31 +323,48 @@ Element Objects
 
    .. method:: iter([tag])
 
-      Creates a tree iterator with the current element as the root. The iterator
-      iterates over this element and all elements below it, in document (depth
-      first) order.  If *tag* is not ``None`` or ``'*'``, only elements whose tag
-      equals *tag* are returned from the iterator. If the tree structure is
-      modified during iteration, the result is undefined.
+      Creates a tree :term:`iterator` with the current element as the root.
+      The iterator iterates over this element and all elements below it, in
+      document (depth first) order.  If *tag* is not ``None`` or ``'*'``, only
+      elements whose tag equals *tag* are returned from the iterator.  If the
+      tree structure is modified during iteration, the result is undefined.
+
+
+   .. method:: iterfind(match)
+
+      Finds all matching subelements, by tag name or path.  Returns an iterable
+      yielding all matching elements in document order.
+
+      .. versionadded:: 2.7
+
+
+   .. method:: itertext()
+
+      Creates a text iterator.  The iterator loops over this element and all
+      subelements, in document order, and returns all inner text.
+
+      .. versionadded:: 2.7
 
 
    .. method:: makeelement(tag, attrib)
 
-      Creates a new element object of the same type as this element. Do not call
-      this method, use the SubElement factory function instead.
+      Creates a new element object of the same type as this element.  Do not
+      call this method, use the :func:`SubElement` factory function instead.
 
 
    .. method:: remove(subelement)
 
-      Removes *subelement* from the element. Unlike the findXYZ methods this
+      Removes *subelement* from the element.  Unlike the find\* methods this
       method compares elements based on the instance identity, not on tag value
       or contents.
 
-   Element objects also support the following sequence type methods for working
-   with subelements: :meth:`__delitem__`, :meth:`__getitem__`, :meth:`__setitem__`,
-   :meth:`__len__`.
+   :class:`Element` objects also support the following sequence type methods
+   for working with subelements: :meth:`__delitem__`, :meth:`__getitem__`,
+   :meth:`__setitem__`, :meth:`__len__`.
 
-   Caution: Because Element objects do not define a :meth:`__nonzero__` method,
-   elements with no subelements will test as ``False``. ::
+   Caution: Elements with no subelements will test as ``False``.  This behavior
+   will change in future versions.  Use specific ``len(elem)`` or ``elem is
+   None`` test instead. ::
 
      element = root.find('foo')
 
@@ -356,11 +383,12 @@ ElementTree Objects
 
 .. class:: ElementTree([element,] [file])
 
-   ElementTree wrapper class.  This class represents an entire element hierarchy,
-   and adds some extra support for serialization to and from standard XML.
+   ElementTree wrapper class.  This class represents an entire element
+   hierarchy, and adds some extra support for serialization to and from
+   standard XML.
 
-   *element* is the root element. The tree is initialized with the contents of the
-   XML *file* if given.
+   *element* is the root element.  The tree is initialized with the contents
+   of the XML *file* if given.
 
 
    .. method:: _setroot(element)
@@ -370,29 +398,28 @@ ElementTree Objects
       care.  *element* is an element instance.
 
 
-   .. method:: find(path)
+   .. method:: find(match)
 
-      Finds the first toplevel element with given tag. Same as
-      getroot().find(path).  *path* is the element to look for. Returns the
-      first matching element, or ``None`` if no element was found.
+      Finds the first toplevel element matching *match*.  *match* may be a tag
+      name or path.  Same as getroot().find(match).  Returns the first matching
+      element, or ``None`` if no element was found.
 
 
-   .. method:: findall(path)
+   .. method:: findall(match)
 
-      Finds all toplevel elements with the given tag. Same as
-      getroot().findall(path).  *path* is the element to look for. Returns a
-      list or :term:`iterator` containing all matching elements, in document
-      order.
+      Finds all matching subelements, by tag name or path.  Same as
+      getroot().findall(match).  *match* may be a tag name or path.  Returns a
+      list containing all matching elements, in document order.
 
 
-   .. method:: findtext(path[, default])
+   .. method:: findtext(match[, default])
 
       Finds the element text for the first toplevel element with given tag.
-      Same as getroot().findtext(path). *path* is the toplevel element to look
-      for. *default* is the value to return if the element was not
-      found. Returns the text content of the first matching element, or the
-      default value no element was found.  Note that if the element has is
-      found, but has no text content, this method returns an empty string.
+      Same as getroot().findtext(match).  *match* may be a tag name or path.
+      *default* is the value to return if the element was not found.  Returns
+      the text content of the first matching element, or the default value no
+      element was found.  Note that if the element is found, but has no text
+      content, this method returns an empty string.
 
 
    .. method:: getiterator([tag])
@@ -413,6 +440,15 @@ ElementTree Objects
       to look for (default is to return all elements)
 
 
+   .. method:: iterfind(match)
+
+      Finds all matching subelements, by tag name or path.  Same as
+      getroot().iterfind(match). Returns an iterable yielding all matching
+      elements in document order.
+
+      .. versionadded:: 2.7
+
+
    .. method:: parse(source[, parser])
 
       Loads an external XML section into this element tree.  *source* is a file
@@ -446,13 +482,13 @@ Example of changing the attribute "target" of every link in first paragraph::
     >>> from xml.etree.ElementTree import ElementTree
     >>> tree = ElementTree()
     >>> tree.parse("index.xhtml")
-    <Element 'html' at b7d3f1ec>
+    <Element 'html' at 0xb77e6fac>
     >>> p = tree.find("body/p")     # Finds first occurrence of tag p in body
     >>> p
-    <Element 'p' at 8416e0c>
+    <Element 'p' at 0xb77ec26c>
     >>> links = list(p.iter("a"))   # Returns list of all links
     >>> links
-    [<Element 'a' at b7d4f9ec>, <Element 'a' at b7d4fb0c>]
+    [<Element 'a' at 0xb77ec2ac>, <Element 'a' at 0xb77ec1cc>]
     >>> for i in links:             # Iterates through all found links
     ...     i.attrib["target"] = "blank"
     >>> tree.write("output.xhtml")
@@ -465,12 +501,12 @@ QName Objects
 
 .. class:: QName(text_or_uri[, tag])
 
-   QName wrapper.  This can be used to wrap a QName attribute value, in order to
-   get proper namespace handling on output. *text_or_uri* is a string containing
-   the QName value, in the form {uri}local, or, if the tag argument is given, the
-   URI part of a QName. If *tag* is given, the first argument is interpreted as an
-   URI, and this argument is interpreted as a local name. :class:`QName` instances
-   are opaque.
+   QName wrapper.  This can be used to wrap a QName attribute value, in order
+   to get proper namespace handling on output.  *text_or_uri* is a string
+   containing the QName value, in the form {uri}local, or, if the tag argument
+   is given, the URI part of a QName.  If *tag* is given, the first argument is
+   interpreted as an URI, and this argument is interpreted as a local name.
+   :class:`QName` instances are opaque.
 
 
 .. _elementtree-treebuilder-objects:
@@ -481,29 +517,29 @@ TreeBuilder Objects
 
 .. class:: TreeBuilder([element_factory])
 
-   Generic element structure builder.  This builder converts a sequence of start,
-   data, and end method calls to a well-formed element structure. You can use this
-   class to build an element structure using a custom XML parser, or a parser for
-   some other XML-like format. The *element_factory* is called to create new
-   Element instances when given.
+   Generic element structure builder.  This builder converts a sequence of
+   start, data, and end method calls to a well-formed element structure.  You
+   can use this class to build an element structure using a custom XML parser,
+   or a parser for some other XML-like format.  The *element_factory* is called
+   to create new :class:`Element` instances when given.
 
 
    .. method:: close()
 
       Flushes the builder buffers, and returns the toplevel document
-      element. Returns an Element instance.
+      element.  Returns an :class:`Element` instance.
 
 
    .. method:: data(data)
 
       Adds text to the current element.  *data* is a string.  This should be
-      either an 8-bit string containing ASCII text, or a Unicode string.
+      either a bytestring, or a Unicode string.
 
 
    .. method:: end(tag)
 
-      Closes the current element. *tag* is the element name. Returns the closed
-      element.
+      Closes the current element.  *tag* is the element name.  Returns the
+      closed element.
 
 
    .. method:: start(tag, attrs)
@@ -517,9 +553,9 @@ TreeBuilder Objects
 
    .. method:: doctype(name, pubid, system)
 
-      Handles a doctype declaration. *name* is the doctype name. *pubid* is the
-      public identifier. *system* is the system identifier. This method does not
-      exist on the default :class:`TreeBuilder` class.
+      Handles a doctype declaration.  *name* is the doctype name.  *pubid* is
+      the public identifier.  *system* is the system identifier.  This method
+      does not exist on the default :class:`TreeBuilder` class.
 
       .. versionadded:: 2.7
 
@@ -532,11 +568,12 @@ XMLParser Objects
 
 .. class:: XMLParser([html [, target[, encoding]]])
 
-   Element structure builder for XML source data, based on the expat parser. *html*
-   are predefined HTML entities.  This flag is not supported by the current
-   implementation. *target* is the target object.  If omitted, the builder uses an
-   instance of the standard TreeBuilder class. *encoding* [1]_ is optional.
-   If given, the value overrides the encoding specified in the XML file.
+   :class:`Element` structure builder for XML source data, based on the expat
+   parser.  *html* are predefined HTML entities.  This flag is not supported by
+   the current implementation.  *target* is the target object.  If omitted, the
+   builder uses an instance of the standard TreeBuilder class.  *encoding* [1]_
+   is optional.  If given, the value overrides the encoding specified in the
+   XML file.
 
 
    .. method:: close()

Doc/library/xml.etree.rst

-:mod:`xml.etree` --- The ElementTree API for XML
-================================================
-
-.. module:: xml.etree
-   :synopsis: Package containing common ElementTree modules.
-.. moduleauthor:: Fredrik Lundh <fredrik@pythonware.com>
-
-
-.. versionadded:: 2.5
-
-The ElementTree package is a simple, efficient, and quite popular  library for
-XML manipulation in Python.    The :mod:`xml.etree` package contains the most
-common components  from the ElementTree API library.  In the current release,
-this package contains the :mod:`ElementTree`,  :mod:`ElementPath`, and
-:mod:`ElementInclude` modules from the full  ElementTree distribution.
-
-.. XXX To be continued!
-
-
-.. seealso::
-
-   `ElementTree Overview <http://effbot.org/tag/elementtree>`_
-      The home page for :mod:`ElementTree`.  This includes links  to additional
-      documentation, alternative implementations, and  other add-ons.