xmltool.py

#/usr/bin/env python
import re
import sys
from xml.dom.minidom import parseString

_xml_re = re.compile('>\n\s+([^<>\s].*?)\n\s+</', re.DOTALL)

def pretty_xml_old(xml_str, indent="  "):
    xml_re = _xml_re
    # avoid re-prettifying large amounts of xml that is fine
    if xml_str.count("\n") < 20:
        pxml = parseString(xml_str).toprettyxml(indent)
        return xml_re.sub('>\g<1></', pxml)
    else:
        return xml_str

if __name__ == '__main__':
    print(pretty_xml_old(sys.stdin.read()))

cat test.xml | python -m xmltool