PHP SimpleXML Functions
PHP SimpleXML Introduction
SimpleXML is an extension that allows us to easily manipulate and get XML data.
SimpleXML provides an easy way of getting an element's name, attributes and textual content if you know the XML document's structure or layout.
SimpleXML turns an XML document into a data structure you can iterate through like a collection of arrays and objects.
Installation
From PHP 5, the SimpleXML functions are part of the PHP core. No installation is required to use these functions.
PHP SimpleXML Functions
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
| __construct() | Creates a new SimpleXMLElement object |
| __toString() | Returns the string content of an element |
| addAttribute() | Appends an attribute to the SimpleXML element |
| addChild() | Appends a child element the SimpleXML element |
| asXML() | Returns a well-formed XML string (XML version 1.0) from a SimpleXML object |
| attributes() | Returns the attributes/values of an element |
| children() | Returns the children of a specified node |
| count() | Counts the children of a specified node |
| getDocNamespaces() | Returns the namespaces declared in document |
| getName() | Returns the name of an element |
| getNamespaces() | Returns the namespaces used in document |
| registerXPathNamespace() | Creates a namespace context for the next XPath query |
| saveXML() | Alias of asXML() |
| simplexml_import_dom() | Returns a SimpleXMLElement object from a DOM node |
| simplexml_load_file() | Converts an XML document to an object |
| simplexml_load_string() | Converts an XML string to an object |
| xpath() | Runs an XPath query on XML data |
PHP SimpleXML Iteration Functions
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
| current() | Returns the current element |
| getChildren() | Returns the child elements of the current element |
| hasChildren() | Checks whether the current element has children |
| key() | Returns the XML tag name of the current element |
| next() | Moves to the next element |
| rewind() | Rewinds to the first element |
| valid() | Checks whether the current element is valid |
