How to convert XML string to PHP array

PHP is a very popular programming language that can easily handle variable types such as strings and arrays. In PHP, you can use an XML string as a data source and then convert it to an array for processing.

In this article, we will introduce the method on how to convert XML string to PHP array.

1. Convert XML string to SimpleXmlElement object

In PHP, you first need to convert XML string to SimpleXmlElement object. To do this, you can use PHP's built-in function simplexml_load_string(). The following is an example:

$xml_string = '<root><item><name>PHP</name><year>1995</year></item><item><name>MySQL</name><year>1995</year></item></root>';
$xml = simplexml_load_string($xml_string);

Here, $xml_string is the XML string to be converted to a SimpleXmlElement object. simplexml_load_string() converts an XML string into a SimpleXmlElement object and assigns it to the variable $xml.

2. Convert the SimpleXmlElement object into a PHP array

Next, you need to convert the SimpleXmlElement object into a PHP array. This can be achieved using the PHP built-in function json_decode(). But it should be noted that the SimpleXmlElement object needs to be converted into a JSON string before conversion. Here is an example:

$xml_string = '<root><item><name>PHP</name><year>1995</year></item><item><name>MySQL</name><year>1995</year></item></root>';
$xml = simplexml_load_string($xml_string);

$json = json_encode($xml);
$array = json_decode($json,TRUE);

In the above example, simplexml_load_string() converts the XML string to a SimpleXmlElement object, and then uses json_encode() to convert the SimpleXmlElement object to a JSON string. Finally use json_decode() to convert the JSON string into a PHP array.

3. Processing attributes in XML strings

If the XML string contains attributes, you need to use the properties of the SimpleXmlElement object to access these attributes. The following is an example:

$xml_string = '<root><item name="PHP" year="1995"/><item name="MySQL" year="1995"/></root>';
$xml = simplexml_load_string($xml_string);

$array = array();
foreach($xml->item as $item) {
    $array[] = array(
        'name' => (string)$item['name'],
        'year' => (int)$item['year']
    );
}

In this example, $xml_string contains two item elements, each element has two attributes (name and year). After converting the XML string to a SimpleXmlElement object, you can use foreach() to iterate through each item element and use $item['name'] and $item['year'] to access the properties of each element.

Note that converting properties to strings and integers is done through casts.

4. Processing namespaces in XML strings

If namespaces are used in XML strings, you need to use the namespace method of the SimpleXmlElement object to access these elements. The following is an example:

$xml_string = '<root xmlns="http://www.example.com"><item><name>PHP</name><year>1995</year></item><item><name>MySQL</name><year>1995</year></item></root>';
$xml = simplexml_load_string($xml_string);

$namespaces = $xml->getDocNamespaces();
$xml->registerXPathNamespace('ns', $namespaces['']);

$items = $xml->xpath('//ns:item');
$array = array();
foreach($items as $item) {
    $array[] = array(
        'name' => (string)$item->name,
        'year' => (int)$item->year
    );
}

In the above example, $xml_string contains two item elements and defines a namespace "http://www.example.com". First, use the getDocNamespaces() method to get all the namespaces in the XML, then use the registerXPathNamespace() method to provide a prefix "ns" for the namespaces.

Use the xpath() method to search for all item elements with the namespace "ns" in the XML document. Then, use foreach() to loop through each element and access their values ​​using $item->name and $item->year.

Summary

In PHP, converting an XML string to a PHP array is very simple. You only need to use functions such as SimpleXmlElement, json_encode() and json_decode(). If the XML string contains attributes or namespaces, you also need to use the properties and namespace methods of the SimpleXmlElement object.

I hope this article is helpful to you, thank you for reading!

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