How Can I Parse and Process HTML/XML in PHP?

Parsing and Processing HTML/XML in PHP

One can parse HTML/XML in PHP and extract information from it using the following methods:

Native XML Extensions

DOM

The DOM extension allows for the manipulation of XML documents with the DOM API in PHP 5. It implements the W3C's Document Object Model Core Level 3, enabling access, updates, and querying of a document's content, structure, and style. It is based on libxml, capable of parsing and modifying real-world HTML, and supports XPath queries.

XMLReader

The XMLReader extension is a pull parser, allowing access to XML nodes on demand as the reader moves through the document. It is also based on libxml, providing a lighter memory footprint than DOM.

XML Parser

This extension allows for the creation of XML parsers with customizable handlers for different XML events. It implements a SAX style XML push parser.

SimpleXml

The SimpleXML extension is suitable for parsing well-formed XHTML documents. It provides a simplistic toolset to convert XML to an object, enabling easy data extraction.

3rd Party Libraries (libxml based)

FluentDom

FluentDom provides a fluent XML interface based on DOMDocument, with support for jQuery-like selectors.

HtmlPageDom

HtmlPageDom is designed for easy manipulation of HTML documents using DOM, extending it with methods specific to HTML.

phpQuery

phpQuery is a CSS3-based DOM manipulation library inspired by jQuery, featuring a chainable interface.

laminas-dom

laminas-dom offers a unified interface for querying DOM documents using XPath and CSS selectors.

fDOMDocument

fDOMDocument extends the standard DOM to use exceptions for error handling and provides additional methods and shortcuts.

sabre/xml

sabre/xml wraps and extends XMLReader and XMLWriter for simple object/array mapping and supports single-pass reading and writing of XML.

FluidXML

FluidXML is a concise and fluent API for manipulating XML, leveraging XPath and fluent programming patterns.

3rd-Party (not libxml-based)

PHP Simple HTML DOM Parser

This library provides easy HTML manipulation and CSS selector support but is not recommended due to its poor codebase, performance issues, and limited selector support.

PHP Html Parser

Another HTML parser with limited functionality and performance issues, not recommended for use.

HTML 5

Dedicated parsers are available for HTML 5 due to potential quirks in parsing with generic tools.

HTML5DomDocument

Extends the native DOMDocument to handle HTML 5 elements correctly and adds features like CSS selector queries and class list support.

HTML5

A complete HTML 5 parser with features like serialization, PHP namespaces, Composer support, event-based parsing, and compatibility with QueryPath.

Regular Expressions

While possible, extracting data from HTML using regular expressions is generally discouraged due to their brittleness and potential for errors. Writing a reliable custom parser with regular expressions is not recommended when well-tested libraries are available.

Books

For further reading, consider the book "PHP Architect's Guide to Webscraping with PHP."

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