// converters
YAML to XML.
Render a YAML map as a simple XML document, with element-per-key and arrays as repeated children.
YAML input
XML output
YAML to XML conversion.
This tool converts a YAML document to well-formed XML. Every YAML key becomes an XML element; nested mappings become child elements; sequences become repeated elements; and scalar values become text content. You can specify the root element name (default: root).
The output is properly escaped: &, <, >, and quotes are converted to XML entities. The XML declaration (<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>) is included at the top. The result is valid XML that any parser can consume.
When to convert YAML to XML.
SOAP and legacy APIs. Some enterprise APIs expect XML. Convert your YAML config or data to XML for consumption by SOAP services, XML-RPC endpoints, or legacy systems.
Data exchange. When exchanging data with systems that only support XML (Java EE, .NET WCF, older CMS platforms), convert your YAML data to XML on the fly.
Document generation. Generate XML documents from YAML templates. The root element name field lets you control the top-level tag, which is required for valid XML documents.
Conversion rules.
Keys become element names. Nested mappings become child elements. Sequences become repeated sibling elements with the same name. Scalars become text content. Numbers and booleans are serialized as text (XML has no native types). The root element wraps everything; all other elements are nested inside it.
Handling edge cases.
YAML keys that contain spaces or special characters are preserved as element names, but you may need to adjust them for strict XML parsers. Empty YAML values produce self-closing XML tags (<key/>). Null values in YAML are converted to empty text content. Boolean values like true and false become the strings "true" and "false" since XML has no native boolean type.
The root element name defaults to root but can be changed to any valid XML name. This is important because XML documents require a single root element that wraps all other content. Choose a descriptive name that matches your data, such as service for API configs or settings for application configuration.
Tips for clean output.
Keep your YAML keys simple — avoid characters that are invalid in XML element names. Use consistent nesting levels so the resulting XML has a clear hierarchy. If you plan to convert back from XML to YAML later, keep the structure flat enough to avoid deeply nested XML that's hard to read.
Practical use cases.
Converting YAML to XML is common when integrating with legacy enterprise systems. Many SOAP web services, XML-RPC endpoints, and older CMS platforms accept only XML. By converting your YAML configuration to XML, you can feed data into these systems without rewriting your entire data pipeline. This is especially useful in healthcare, finance, and government sectors where XML-based standards are still prevalent.
The tool is also helpful for generating XML reports from YAML data. If your monitoring system stores metrics in YAML and you need to produce an XML report for a third-party dashboard, this converter handles the transformation in seconds. The output is well-formed XML that parsers and validators can consume without issues.
FAQ
How do I convert a YAML config to XML for legacy systems?
Use Python: load YAML with `yaml.safe_load`, then `dicttoxml` (pip install) — converts dict structure to XML with auto-generated tags.
How do I control XML element names when converting from YAML?
YAML keys become XML tags, so name your YAML keys with valid XML element names; use `dicttoxml`'s `custom_root` and `attr_type` params for customization.
How do I preserve YAML data types (int, bool) in XML output?
`dicttoxml` adds `type='integer'` etc. as attributes; for cleaner output, use `lxml`'s `etree.fromstring` with custom type handlers.
How do I convert YAML arrays to repeating XML elements?
YAML lists naturally map to repeated XML elements: `{items: [a, b, c]}` → `<items><item>a</item><item>b</item><item>c</item></items>` (with `dicttoxml`).
Can I convert YAML to a specific XML schema?
Schema-bound conversion requires an XSLT or custom Python script; `dicttoxml` produces generic XML, not schema-validated — post-process with `lxml` for schema compliance.