SimpleXML is an extension for PHP that makes it easy to work with and get XML data.
SimpleXML Parser
SimpleXML is a parser that works with trees.
If you know how an XML document is structured or laid out, SimpleXML makes it easy to get the name, attributes, and text of an element.
SimpleXML turns an XML document into a data structure like a collection of arrays and objects that you can iterate through.
SimpleXML needs less lines of code than DOM or the Expat parser to read text data from an element.
Installation
Since PHP 5, the SimpleXML functions have been built into the core of PHP. You don’t have to install anything to use these functions.
Read From String in PHP SimpleXML
XML data can be read from a string using the PHP simplexml load string() function.
Let’s say we have a variable with XML data in it, like this:
$testXMLvar =
“<?xml version=’1.0′ encoding=’UTF-8′?>
<example>
<to>Ram</to>
<from>Shyam</from>
<heading>Message</heading>
<body>Lets do tracking this weekend!</body>
</example>”;
The example below shows how to use the simplexml load string() function to get XML data from a string:
Example
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body><?php
$testXMLvar =
“<?xml version=’1.0′ encoding=’UTF-8′?>
<example>
<to>Ram</to>
<from>Shyam</from>
<heading>Message</heading>
<body>Lets do tracking this weekend!</body>
</example>”;$xml=simplexml_load_string($testXMLvar ) or die(“Error: create object faild”);
print_r($xml);
?></body>
</html>
Output
SimpleXMLElement Object ( [to] => Ram[from] => Shyam[heading] => Message[body] => Lets do tracking this weekend! )
More PHP XML Parser
Visit our PHP XML Parser Reference page to find out more about the XML Parser reference.
# Summary
Here is what you've learned in this lesson:
- SimpleXML Parser
- Read From String in PHP SimpleXML
- More PHP XML Parser
Continue to the next lesson and learn more about Constructor / Destructor – PHP OOP.