Last updated: Fri, 27 Aug 2010

SimpleXMLElement::children

(PHP 5 >= 5.0.1)

SimpleXMLElement::children — Cherche les fils d'un noeud donné

Description

SimpleXMLElement SimpleXMLElement::children ([ string $ns [, bool $is_prefix = false ]] )

Cette méthode cherche les fils d'un élément. Le résultat suit les règles de l'itération normale.

Note: SimpleXML ajoute des propriétés itératives pour presque toutes ses méthodes. Celles-ci ne peuvent être vues en utilisant var_dump() ou tout autre fonction qui examine les objets.

Liste de paramètres

ns: Un espace de noms XML.
is_prefix: Si is_prefix vaut TRUE, ns sera considéré comme un préfixe. S'il vaut FALSE, ns sera considéré comme une URL vers un espace de noms.

Valeurs de retour

Retourne un élément SimpleXMLElement que le noeud possède un fils ou pas.

Historique

Version	Description
5.2.0	Le paramètre optionnel `is_prefix` a été ajouté.

Exemples

Exemple #1 Parcours d'un pseudo-tableau children()


<?php
$xml = new SimpleXMLElement(
'<person>
 <child role="son">
  <child role="daughter"/>
 </child>
 <child role="daughter">
  <child role="son">
   <child role="son"/>
  </child>
 </child>
</person>');

foreach ($xml->children() as $second_gen) {
    echo ' The person begot a ' . $second_gen['role'];

    foreach ($second_gen->children() as $third_gen) {
        echo ' who begot a ' . $third_gen['role'] . ';';

        foreach ($third_gen->children() as $fourth_gen) {
            echo ' and that ' . $third_gen['role'] .
                ' begot a ' . $fourth_gen['role'];
        }
    }
}
?>

L'exemple ci-dessus va afficher :

The person begot a son who begot a daughter; The person
begot a daughter who begot a son; and that son begot a son

Exemple #2 Utilisation des espaces de noms


<?php
$xml = '<example xmlns:foo="my.foo.urn">
  <foo:a>Apple</foo:a>
  <foo:b>Banana</foo:b>
  <c>Cherry</c>
</example>';

$sxe = new SimpleXMLElement($xml);

$kids = $sxe->children('foo');
var_dump(count($kids));

$kids = $sxe->children('foo', TRUE);
var_dump(count($kids));

$kids = $sxe->children('my.foo.urn');
var_dump(count($kids));

$kids = $sxe->children('my.foo.urn', TRUE);
var_dump(count($kids));

$kids = $sxe->children();
var_dump(count($kids));
?>

int(0)
int(2)
int(2)
int(0)
int(1)

Notes

SimpleXMLElement::children() retourne un noeud, peu importe si le noeud courant a un fils ou non. Utilisez la fonction count() sur le résultat pour vérifier si des fils existent. SimpleXMLElement::count() peut aussi être utilisée à cet effet à partir de PHP 5.3.0.

Voir aussi

SimpleXMLElement::count() - Compte le nombre de fils pour un élément
count() - Compte tous les éléments d'un tableau ou le nombre de propriétés d'un objet

SimpleXMLElement::__construct

SimpleXMLElement::attributes

Last updated: Fri, 27 Aug 2010

add a note User Contributed Notes
SimpleXMLElement::children

alan at performantsystems dot com
11-Aug-2010 09:40


As I have occasion to retrieve a single data item rather than a list, I wanted a way to just grab and parse one data item from XML.  Here is one way to do that:



<?php

echo "\n";

$XML =

'<data>

   <USERS>

      <ID>alang</ID>

      <NAME>Alan Gruskoff</NAME>

      <ROLE>mgr</ROLE>

   </USERS>

</data>';



$xmlObject = new SimpleXMLElement($XML);



$node = $xmlObject->children();

echo "var_dump node\n";

var_dump($node);

echo "\n";



echo "\nnode ID=". $node[0]->ID;

echo "\nnode NAME=". $node[0]->NAME;

echo "\nnode ROLE=". $node[0]->ROLE;



echo "\n";

?>



This will show the contents of the $node child of the $xmlObject and then the specific element values.

php at shiinaringo dot se
18-Feb-2010 10:42


Most examples on this page do not take namespaces into account, rendering them useless in many cases. Here is a function to convert xml to array. You have to feed it the list of namespaces to use. Watch the example at the bottom.



<?php



function xml2phpArray($xml, $namespaces, $arr) {

    $iter = 0;



    foreach ($namespaces as $namespace => $namespaceUrl) {

        foreach ($xml->children($namespaceUrl) as $b) {

            $a = $b->getName();



            if ($b->children($namespaceUrl)) {

                $arr[$a][$iter] = array();

                $arr[$a][$iter] = xml2phpArray($b, $namespaces, $arr[$a][$iter]);

            }

            else {

                $arr[$a] = trim($b[0]);

            }



            $iter++;

        }

    }



    return $arr;

}



$xml = simplexml_load_file('http://urltosomexmlfile.xml');



$namespaces = array_merge(array('' => ''), $xml->getDocNamespaces(true));

$myArray = array();

$myArray = xml2phpArray($xml, $namespaces, $myArray);



?>

mrdaniellee at live dot com
10-Jan-2010 05:11


use this If you want to view the HTML as well as data.





normal dumps display the parsed versions of HTML.


This code displays the HTML as Text in a Text Area, and also display all other a data along side as an array 





perfect for debugging (xml with html).





Try This Code:





<?php


$xml  = simplexml_load_file($url);





function xml2array_parse($xml){


     foreach ($xml->children() as $parent => $child){


         $return["$parent"] = xml2array_parse($child)?xml2array_parse($child):"$child";


     }


     return $return;


 } 


 


 print "<pre><textarea style=\"width:200%;height:100%;\">";


 print_r(xml2array_parse($xml));


 print "</textarea></pre>";


?>

rodmen at gmail dot com
21-May-2009 03:32


Transform xml to array php





<?php


function xml2phpArray($xml,$arr){


    $iter = 0;


        foreach($xml->children() as $b){


                $a = $b->getName();


                if(!$b->children()){


                        $arr[$a] = trim($b[0]);


                }


                else{


                        $arr[$a][$iter] = array();


                        $arr[$a][$iter] = xml2phpArray($b,$arr[$a][$iter]);


                }


        $iter++;


        }


        return $arr;


}





$Array = simplexml_load_string(file_get_contents('myfile.xml'));


print_r(xml2phpArray($Array,array()));


?>

G dot B dot Yahav at Gmail dot com
25-Mar-2009 06:26


I done a very nice function to run over the XML element recursivly with SimpleXML, and print it on the screen





here it is:





<?php





$xml_han = new SimpleXMLElement( "data.xml", null, true );





print RecursiveXML( $xml_han );


function RecursiveXML( SimpleXMLElement $han, $preffix = "")


{


    if( count( $han->children() ) < 1 )


    {


        return $preffix . "&lt;" . $han->getName() . warpAttributes( $han->attributes() ) . "&gt;&nbsp;" . $han . "&nbsp;&lt;/" . $han->getName() . "&gt;<br />";


    }


    


    $ret = $preffix . "&lt;" . $han->getName() . warpAttributes( $han->attributes() ) . "&gt;<br />";


    foreach( $han->children() as $key => $child )


    {


        $ret .= RecursiveXML($child , $preffix . "|--&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;" );


    }


    return $ret;


}





?>





enjoy :)

hoseinnj at google's great mail dot com
19-Mar-2009 07:25


Quick easy way to turn objectified SimpleXMLElement data into an array.





<?php


function get_xml_from_some_source(){


//blah blah blah build cUrl


$data = @curl_exec($ch);


$newdata = new SimpleXMLElement($data);


$new = xml2array_parse($newdata);


}





function xml2array_parse($xml){


     foreach ($xml->children() as $parent => $child){


         $return["$parent"] = xml2array_parse($child)?xml2array_parse($child):"$child";


     }


     return $return;


 }


?>





My first post, be nice.  ;-)

Anonymous
06-Sep-2008 12:39


for XML namespaces such as <dc:creator> in RSS feeds use





<?php


    $xml = new SimpleXMLElement($string);


    $item = $xml->channel[0]->item[0];


    $dc = $item->children("http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/");


    echo $dc->creator;


?>

transglobe at gmx dot de
19-Mar-2008 10:37


I made a slightly differnt approch towards the RecurseXML function. Beeing hungry I had problems with the code, as it did just overwrite two <maincourse>s. So here is what I did:





<?php





$xml = new SimpleXMLElement(


'<meal>


   <type>Lunch</type>


   <time>12:30</time>


   <menu>


     <entree>salad</entree>


     <maincourse>


        <part>ships</part>


        <part>steak</part>


     </maincourse>


     <maincourse>


        <part>fisch</part>


        <part>rice</part>


     </maincourse>


     <maincourse>


        <part>wine</part>


        <part>cheese</part>


     </maincourse>


   </menu>


</meal>');





$vals = array();


RecurseXML($xml,$vals);





foreach($vals as $key=>$value)


  print("{$key} = {$value}<BR>\n");





function RecurseXML($xml,&$vals,$parent="") {





  $childs=0;


  $child_count=-1; # Not realy needed.


  $arr=array();


        foreach ($xml->children() as $key=>$value) {


                if (in_array($key,$arr)) {


                        $child_count++;


                } else {


                        $child_count=0;


                }


                $arr[]=$key;


                $k=($parent == "") ? "$key.$child_count" : "$parent.$key.$child_count";


                $childs=RecurseXML($value,$vals,$k);


                if ($childs==0) {


                        $vals[$k]= (string)$value;


                }


        }





  return $childs;


}





?>


Output is like this:


type.0 = Lunch


time.0 = 12:30


menu.0.entree.0 = salad


menu.0.maincourse.0.part.0 = ships


menu.0.maincourse.0.part.1 = steak


menu.0.maincourse.0 =


menu.0.maincourse.1.part.0 = fisch


menu.0.maincourse.1.part.1 = rice


menu.0.maincourse.1 =


menu.0.maincourse.2.part.0 = wine


menu.0.maincourse.2.part.1 = cheese


menu.0.maincourse.2 =


menu.0 = 





(Not beautiful, but it solved my case...)

crescentfreshpot at yahoo dot com
10-Dec-2007 04:16


Just a warning that the iterable returned from children() contains the '@attributes' key, which is "invisible" during a foreach but can be seen if using a different construct, such as list()=each() or casting to an array before iterating w/ foreach.

aero
23-May-2007 03:07


Here's a simple, recursive, function to transform XML data into pseudo E4X syntax ie. root.child.value = foobar





<?php


error_reporting(E_ALL);





$xml = new SimpleXMLElement(


'<Patriarch>


   <name>Bill</name>


   <wife>


     <name>Vi</name>


   </wife>


   <son>


     <name>Bill</name>


   </son>


   <daughter>


     <name>Jeri</name>


     <husband>


       <name>Mark</name>


     </husband>


     <son>


       <name>Greg</name>


     </son>


     <son>


       <name>Tim</name>


     </son>     


     <son>


       <name>Mark</name>


     </son>     


     <son>


       <name>Josh</name>


         <wife>


           <name>Kristine</name>


         </wife> 


         <son>


           <name>Blake</name>


         </son>


         <daughter>


           <name>Liah</name>


         </daughter>


     </son>


   </daughter>


</Patriarch>');





RecurseXML($xml);





function RecurseXML($xml,$parent="")


{


   $child_count = 0;


   foreach($xml as $key=>$value)


   {


      $child_count++;     


      if(RecurseXML($value,$parent.".".$key) == 0)  // no childern, aka "leaf node"


      {


         print($parent . "." . (string)$key . " = " . (string)$value . "<BR>\n");        


      }     


   }


   return $child_count;


}





?>





The output....





.name = Bill


.wife.name = Vi


.son.name = Bill


.daughter.name = Jeri


.daughter.husband.name = Mark


.daughter.son.name = Greg


.daughter.son.name = Tim


.daughter.son.name = Mark


.daughter.son.name = Josh


.daughter.son.wife.name = Kristine


.daughter.son.son.name = Blake


.daughter.son.daughter.name = Liah

taylorbarstow at that google mail thingy
21-Apr-2006 02:38


Sometimes you actually want an array, not a pseudo array.   This is especially true when you aren't dealing with attributes (i.e., you just want the array of child nodes).





Do like this:





<?php


$children = $sxml->xpath('child::node()');


?>





The reason you might want this is to be able to use array functions like array_shift, array_pop, etc.  This is especially true when you are writing recursive functions.  Simplexml works really well in iterative programming, but if you try to implement recursion it gets ugly.

Sebastian
27-Oct-2005 10:45


Just a quick addition:





If you need to access a child node which contains a dash, you need to encapsulate it with {""}.





For example:


<?php


foreach ($domain->domain-listing as $product) {


}


?>





The example above doesn't work because of the dash. But instead you need to use:


<?php


foreach ($domain->{"domain-listing"} as $product) {


}


?>





At least for me the second example works perfectly fine.

no-one
01-Jun-2005 01:05


For anyone who hasn't read Sterling Hughe's article (http://www.zend.com/php5/articles/php5-simplexml.php):





<?php


$xml_document =<<<EOT


<?xml version="1.0"?>


<root xmlns:foo="http://example.com">


  <foo:bar>baz</foo:bar>


</root>


EOT;





$xml_document = simplexml_load_xml($xml_document);





$foo_ns_bar = $xml_document->children('http://example.com');





echo $foo_ns_bar->bar[0]; // prints 'baz'


?>

Andrew Rose (rose dot andrew at gmail dot com)
16-Mar-2005 12:48


The example below shows the basic use of depth-first recursion to span the xml tree.





This is coded for the command line, and it prints out the original sentance above and then the copy cat sentence it creates itself for comparison, which as you will see; this example is slightly off from, I'll leave it upto you to resolve this issue.





All in all I personaly think xml and recursion go hand in hand, so if you don't understand recursion but know xml and want to use php to manipulate xml you will need to learn about recursion at some point.





<?php


$xml = simplexml_load_string(


'<person>


 <child role="son">


  <child role="daughter"/>


 </child>


 <child role="daughter">


  <child role="son">


   <child role="son"/>


  </child>


 </child>


</person>');





function recurse($child)


 {


   foreach($child->children() as $children) {


     echo ' who begot a '.$children['role'];


     recurse($children); 


   }


    return;


 }





foreach($xml->children() as $children) {


 echo 'The person begot a '.$children['role'];


  recurse($children, 0);


 echo '; ';


}





echo "\n";


echo 'The person begot a son who begot a daughter; The person begot a daughter who begot a son; and that son begot a son'."\n";





?>

zyxwvu at users dot sourceforge dot net
15-Feb-2004 06:32


File:





<category>


  <item>text</item>


  <bold>text</bold>


  <item>text</item>


  <item>text</item>


  <mark>text</mark>


  <bold>text</bold>


</category>





If you want to get also names of the tags, you can use this loop layout:





<?php


foreach($category -> children() as $name => $node){


  echo $name.'<br/>';


}


?>

add a note

SimpleXMLElement::__construct

SimpleXMLElement::attributes

Last updated: Fri, 27 Aug 2010