with open(file="coverage.xml") as file: file_content = file.readlines() for line in file_content: try: orig_line = file_content.index(line) line = line.strip().split("<")[1].split(">") if line[0] == "source": print("FOUND") file_content[orig_line] = "src\n" except: pass with open(file="coverage.xml", mode="w") as file: file.writelines(file_content)