XPath selection tool in Python

xpath.py

#!/usr/bin/env python


import sys
from lxml.etree import parse, fromstring, tostring, _Element


def print_result(result):
    if type(result) is list:
        for e in result:
            # Recurse to print the individual elements
            print_result(e)
    elif isinstance(result, _Element):
        value = tostring(result).strip()
        if isinstance(value, bytes):
            value = value.decode()
        print(value)
    else:
        print(str(result))


if __name__ == '__main__':
    with open(sys.argv[2], 'r') as fp:
        # Remove namespaces from the document.
        xml = fp.read().replace('xmlns=', 'no-xmlns=') \
                       .replace('xmlns:', 'no-xmlns-') \
                       .replace('xsi:', 'no-xsi-')
    doc = fromstring(xml.encode())
    result = doc.xpath(sys.argv[1])
    if result:
        print_result(result)