Implementing remove function for element tree element - python-3.x

Question

I am trying to remove an element from an XML tree. My attempt is based on the example that I found in the Python documentation:
for country in root.findall('country'):
# using root.findall() to avoid removal during traversal
rank = int(country.find('rank').text)
if rank > 50:
root.remove(country)
tree.write('output.xml')
But I'm trying to use the remove() function for a string attribute, not an integer one.
for country in root.findall('country'):
# using root.findall() to avoid removal during traversal
description = country.find('rank').text
root.remove(description)
tree.write('SampleData.xml')
But I get the following error:
TypeError: remove() argument must be xml.etree.ElementTree.Element, not str.
I ultimately added another element under country called description which holds a short description of the country and its features:
<data>
<country name="Liechtenstein">
<rank>1</rank>
<year>2008</year>
<gdppc>141100</gdppc>
<neighbor name="Austria" direction="E"/>
<neighbor name="Switzerland" direction="W"/>
<description>Liechtenstein has a lot of flowers.</description>
</country>
<country name="Singapore">
<rank>4</rank>
<year>2011</year>
<gdppc>59900</gdppc>
<neighbor name="Malaysia" direction="N" />
<description>Singapore has a lot of street markets</description>
</country>
<country name="Panama">
<rank>68</rank>
<year>2011</year>
<gdppc>13600</gdppc>
<neighbor name="Costa Rica" direction="W" />
<neighbor name="Colombia" direction="E" />
<description>Panama is predominantly Spanish speaking.</description>
</country>
</data>
I'm trying to use the remove() function to delete that description attribute for all instances.

Answer 1

Indeed, in your code you are passing a string as argument, not a node:
description = country.find('rank').text
root.remove(description)
This is not what happens in the correct examples. The one with the integer does this:
rank = int(country.find('rank').text)
if rank > 50:
root.remove(country)
Note that country is removed (a node), not rank (an int).
It is not clear what you want to do with the description, but make sure to remove a node, not a string. For instance,
description = country.find('rank').text
if description == "delete this": # just an example condition
root.remove(country)
Or, if you just want to remove the "rank" node and keep the country node:
ranknode = country.find('rank')
if ranknode.text == "delete this":
country.remove(ranknode)
As you mention you have actually a description element (you call it an attribute, but that is confusing), you can target that element instead of rank:
descriptionnode = country.find('description')
if descriptionnode.text == "delete this":
country.remove(descriptionnode)