Python: Strip spaces between tags

stripSpacesXMLTags.py

#!/usr/bin/env python

print re.sub('\s+(?=<)', '', xml_string)

# This regex will turn a prettyprinted XML string into a spaceless
# string which is sometimes easier to deal with.

# Example response from xml.etree.ElementTree.fromstring(xml)
# <response>
#   <Auth status="0"/>
#   <Read status="0">
#     <Invoice>
#       <id>4</id>
#       <number>983</number>
#       <customerid>204</customerid>
#       <total>12.00</total>
#     </Invoice>
#   </Read>
# </response>

# When the above is printed in the terminal it will look like this
xml_string = '''
<response>\n  <Auth status="0"/>\n  <Read status="0">\n    <Invoice>\n      <id>1</id>\n      <number>234</number>\n
     <customerid>204</customerid>\n      <total>99.00</total>\n    </Invoice>\n  </Read>\n</response>\n
'''

# Passing that xml_string through the regex expression will print like this
'''<response><Auth status="0"/><Read status="0"><Invoice><id>1</id><number>234</number><customerid>204</customerid><total
>99.00</total></Invoice></Read></response>'''