format_xml.py

#!/usr/bin/env python2.7
import codecs
import sys
from xml.dom import minidom

filename = '/dev/stdin'

if len(sys.argv) > 1:
    filename = sys.argv[1]

formatted = minidom.parse(filename).toprettyxml(indent='  ')

# Remove blank lines and trailing whitespace
lines = [
    l.rstrip() for l in formatted.split('\n') if l.strip()
]

formatted = '\n'.join(lines)
print formatted.encode('utf-8')