Convert XML to CSV with node path as header

Shiji Pan

2 years ago

I see a post Convert XML to CSV (with node path as header) using XSLT, the poster have this XML data:

<tXML>
    <Header>
        <Source>XPTO</Source>
        <User_ID>127</User_ID>
        <Message_Type>Ship</Message_Type>
        <Company_ID>105</Company_ID>
        <Msg_Locale>English (United States)</Msg_Locale>
        <Version>2017</Version>
    </Header>
    <Message>
        <Ship>
            <ShipSummary>
                <ComName>XPTO 123</ComName>
                <FacName>6</FacName>
            </ShipSummary>
        </Ship>
    </Message>
</tXML>

He want to convert to CSV like this:

tXML/Header/Source,tXML/Header/User_ID,tXML/Header/Message_Type,tXML/Header/Company_ID,tXML/Header/Msg_Locale,tXML/Header/Version,tXML/Message/Ship/ShipSummary/ComName,tXML/Message/Ship/ShipSummary/FacName
XPTO,127,Ship,105,English (United States),2017,XPTO 123,6

I don’t like using XSLT, I like my tool Data File Converter, so I test, it can do this, in a minute.

1. Open XML file, set XML options.

2. set CSV options.

3. “Next” and “Next”, convert, get output CSV file.

XML → CSV reference

Type mapping

Value kind	in XML	in CSV
Int	`<int>1234</int>`	`1234`
Bigint	`<bigint>9007199254740993</bigint>`	`9007199254740993`
Decimal	`<decimal>1234.56</decimal>`	`1234.56`
Float	`<float>1.234e10</float>`	`1.234e+10`
Text	`<char>text</char>`	`quoted only when it contains a comma or a quote`
Long text	`<text>multi-line text</text> (entities for & <)`	`must be quoted; line breaks inside force multi-line records`
Date	`<date>2026-09-18</date> (xs:date with an XSD)`	`2026-09-18`
Datetime	`<datetime>2026-09-18T14:30:00Z</datetime> (xs:dateTime)`	`2026-09-18 14:30:00`
Binary	`<blob>base64...</blob> (xs:base64Binary)`	`not representable - base64 or hex string`
Boolean	`<bool>true</bool>`	`TRUE / FALSE, or 1 / 0 depending on the writer`
JSON	`escaped inside an element, or its own sub-tree`	`the whole JSON value quoted, with internal quotes doubled`

Dialect differences

Both XML and CSV are file formats, so what differs below is how each one chooses to represent a value.

Property	in XML	in CSV
identifiers	`Attribute values in quotes; entities (& < >) for ...`	`Double quotes; a literal quote is doubled ("" )`
dates	`Text (xs:date / xs:dateTime when an XSD is in play)`	`Conventional text: 2026-09-18 or 2026-09-18 14:30:00`
binary	`base64Binary / hexBinary inside text`	`Not supported`
separator	`Tags, not delimiters`	`Comma ","`
encoding	`Declared in the XML declaration`	`No declaration - UTF-8 works only with a BOM`
typing	`None in the markup itself`	`None - every field is text`
shape	`Arbitrary tree`	`Flat table, optional header row`
ceiling	`Whole document is usually parsed into memory`	`No formal limit; row count bounded by memory`

Convert your data online, free

Free in-browser converters for CSV, Excel, JSON, XML and SQL: Withdata Online Data Conversion. Large files, batch conversion or scheduling? See the offline desktop apps, or browse all data conversion tools.