How Can I Select XML Elements by Attribute Value Using SimpleXML and XPath?

Using SimpleXML to Select Elements by Attribute Value

In XML documents, selecting elements with certain attribute values is a common task. Suppose you have elements with the same name, but their attribute values specify their data type. To select all elements with a specific value for that attribute, you can use SimpleXML.

XPath for Attribute Selection

Using XPath, you can select elements based on attribute values. For instance, to select all elements with the type attribute set to "me":

/object/data[@type="me"]

This XPath expression means:

• Start from the root element "object."
• Select all descendant elements named "data."
• Filter the selected elements to include only those with a "type" attribute value of "me."

Example XML:

Consider the following XML:

<object>
  <data type="me">myname</data>
  <data type="you">yourname</data>
  <data type="me">myothername</data>
</object>

Using the XPath expression, you can select the contents of elements where "type" equals "me":

$myDataObjects = $simplexml->xpath('/object/data[@type="me"]');

If "object" is not the root element, use "//object/data[@type="me"]" to select all descendants, not just children.

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