xml - Python SVG parser

Question

I want to parse an SVG file using python to extract coordinates/paths (I believe this is listed under the "path" ID, specifically the d="..."/>). This data will eventually be used to drive a 2 axis CNC.

I've searched on SO and Google for libraries that can return the string of such paths so I can further parse it, but to no avail. Does such a library exist?

Answer 1

Ignoring transforms, you can extract the path strings from an SVG like so:

from xml.dom import minidom

doc = minidom.parse(svg_file)  # parseString also exists
path_strings = [path.getAttribute('d') for path
                in doc.getElementsByTagName('path')]
doc.unlink()