gedcom.element.element module

Base GEDCOM element

class gedcom.element.element.Element(level, pointer, tag, value, crlf='\n', multi_line=True)

Bases: object

GEDCOM element Each line in a GEDCOM file is an element with the format level [pointer] tag [value] where level and tag are required, and pointer and value are optional. Elements are arranged hierarchically according to their level, and elements with a level of zero are at the top level. Elements with a level greater than zero are children of their parent.

A pointer has the format @pname@, where pname is any sequence of characters and numbers. The pointer identifies the object being pointed to, so that any pointer included as the value of any element points back to the original object. For example, an element may have a FAMS tag whose value is @F1@, meaning that this element points to the family record in which the associated person is a spouse. Likewise, an element with a tag of FAMC has a value that points to a family record in which the associated person is a child.

See a GEDCOM file for examples of tags and their values. Tags available to an element are seen here: gedcom.tags

add_child_element(element)

Adds a child element to this element

equals(element)

Returns true when the specific fields for both elements match. The comparison includes the level, pointer, tag and pointer. If the tag is ‘BIRT’,’BURI’,’DEAT’,’_MILT’, or ‘RESI’, the comparison includes the date and place from the child elements.

Return type

bool

get_child_element_value(tag='DATE')

Returns the value for a specific child element. Assumes there will only be one child element per tag

Return type

str

get_child_elements()

Returns the direct child elements of this element

Return type

list of Element

get_child_value_by_tag(tag)

Returns value of child element by tag including any CONC lines

Return type

str

get_individual()

Returns this element and all of its sub-elements represented as a GEDCOM string ::deprecated:: As of version 1.0.0 use to_gedcom_string() method instead

Return type

str

get_level()

Returns the level of this element from within the GEDCOM file

Return type

int

get_multi_line_value()

Returns the value of this element including concatenations or continuations

Return type

str

get_parent_element()

Returns the parent element of this element

Return type

Element

get_pointer()

Returns the pointer of this element from within the GEDCOM file

Return type

str

get_tag()

Returns the tag of this element from within the GEDCOM file

Return type

str

get_value()

Return the value of this element from within the GEDCOM file

Return type

str

new_child_element(tag, pointer='', value='')

Creates and returns a new child element of this element

Return type

Element

remove_child_element(pointer)

Removes child element based on pointer

set_multi_line_value(value)

Sets the value of this element, adding concatenation and continuation lines when necessary

set_parent_element(element)

Adds a parent element to this element There’s usually no need to call this method manually, add_child_element() calls it automatically.

set_value(value)

Sets the value of this element

to_gedcom_string(recursive=False)

Formats this element and optionally all of its sub-elements into a GEDCOM string

Return type

str