How to Select the Value Node Under Image in XML: Scope Your Query with BeautifulSoup or XPath

Learn to extract only the Value under Image in XML by scoping your search. See BeautifulSoup and lxml XPath solutions that avoid broad tag matches and errors.

When an XML document repeats the same tag name in different branches, a flat search by tag returns everything. If you need the exact Value nested under Image, you must scope the query to that branch instead of collecting every Value in the file.

Example XML and the initial parsing attempt

Consider the following XML with multiple Value nodes. The task is to extract only the one under Image.

<Report xmlns=http://schemas.microsoft.com>
  <AutoRefresh>0</AutoRefresh>
  <DataSources>
    <DataSource Name="DataSource2">
      <Value>SourceAlpha</Value>
      <rd:SecurityType>None</rd:SecurityType>
    </DataSource>
  </DataSources>
  <Image Name="Image36">
    <Source>Embedded</Source>
        <Value>NeedThisValue!!!</Value>
        <Sizing>FitProportional</Sizing>
  </Image>
</Report>

The following code reads the file and finds every Value tag. As a result, it returns both nodes, not just the one under Image:

from bs4 import BeautifulSoup as BS
with open("path_to_xml_file", "r") as fh:
    xml_text = fh.read()
    soup_doc = BS(xml_text, "xml")
    value_nodes = soup_doc.find_all("Value")
    print(value_nodes)

The output contains both occurrences, while only the second one is needed.

What’s going on

find_all selects every matching tag in the entire document. Because Value appears under different parents, the search is too broad. To get the right node you must restrict the lookup to the Image branch so the parser searches the correct subtree rather than the whole tree.

If you stick with BeautifulSoup, you can narrow the scope by first selecting the Image element and then looking up Value within it. Another way is to use an XPath expression that directly targets the Value under a specific Image node.

Solution with XPath using lxml

The snippet below parses the same content and selects the desired node with an explicit XPath that points to Value under the Image with the given Name attribute.

from lxml import html as LH
xml_blob = """<Report xmlns=http://schemas.microsoft.com>
  <AutoRefresh>0</AutoRefresh>
  <DataSources>
    <DataSource Name="DataSource2">
      <Value>SourceAlpha</Value>
      <rd:SecurityType>None</rd:SecurityType>
    </DataSource>
  </DataSources>
  <Image Name="Image36">
    <Source>Embedded</Source>
        <Value>NeedThisValue!!!</Value>
        <Sizing>FitProportional</Sizing>
  </Image>
</Report>
"""
doc_root = LH.fromstring(xml_blob)
print(LH.tostring(doc_root, pretty_print=True).decode())
match_node = doc_root.xpath('//image[@name="Image36"]/value')[0]
print(match_node.text)

Output:

<report xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com">
  <autorefresh>0</autorefresh>
  <datasources>
    <datasource name="DataSource2">
      <value>SourceAlpha</value>
      <securitytype>None</securitytype>
    </datasource>
  </datasources>
  <image name="Image36">
    <source>Embedded</source>
        <value>NeedThisValue!!!</value>
        <sizing>FitProportional</sizing>
  </image>
</report>
NeedThisValue!!!

Why this matters

Configurations, reports and feeds often reuse the same tag across multiple branches. A global search by tag name pulls in unrelated nodes and produces incorrect results. Scoping your query—either by first selecting the parent element and then its child or by using a precise XPath—keeps the intent unambiguous and the output stable.

Takeaways

When parsing XML with repeated tag names, avoid broad selections. Constrain the lookup to the relevant parent node or express the relationship directly with XPath. This small change prevents accidental matches and gives you exactly the Value you were after under the Image branch.