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I am getting the following error when trying to import XML:

text = URLFetch[
   "http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/efetch.fcgi?db=protein&id=8&retmode=xml"];

ImportString[text, {"XML", "XMLObject"}];

XML`Parser`XMLGetString::prserr: MalformedURLException: The URL used an unsupported protocol at Line: 2 Character: 106. >>

Any suggestions?

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    – user9660
    Commented Oct 14, 2015 at 11:30
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    $\begingroup$ I receive no errors and your code works fine on my computer (MMA 10.2, Win7-64). If the problem persists on your end, you could also try using Import directly: Import["http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/efetch.fcgi?db=protein&id=8&rettype=xml", "XML"] which seems to produce the same results. $\endgroup$
    – MarcoB
    Commented Oct 14, 2015 at 13:43
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks Marco. It's strange, I am getting the same error. I actually made a little mistake in what I copy/pasted to you, it should be retmode instead of rettype: In[171]:= Import["eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/… During evaluation of In[171]:= XMLParserXMLGet::prserr: MalformedURLException: The URL used an unsupported protocol at Line: 2 Character: 99 in /var/folders/ll/cl5jhpqx40s__jv4_blwsq5h0000gn/T/m000009227691/efetch.fcgi. >> During evaluation of In[171]:= Import::fmterr: Cannot import data as XML format. >> $\endgroup$
    – user1496710
    Commented Oct 14, 2015 at 14:37

1 Answer 1

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This response is very late, but I had the same problem and I found a solution that might work for you as well.

My XML file had headers that looked like

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE {some string} SYSTEM {some other string}>

Deleting those headers and then using Import[file] without any extra options correctly imported the XML file.

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