PHP SimpleXML - Get Node/Attribute Values
SimpleXML is a PHP extension that allows us to easily manipulate and get XML data.
PHP SimpleXML - Get Node Values
Get the node values from the "note.xml" file:
Example
<?php
$xml=simplexml_load_file("note.xml") or die("Error: Cannot create object");
echo $xml->to . "<br>";
echo $xml->from . "<br>";
echo $xml->heading . "<br>";
echo $xml->body;
?>
Run example »
The output of the code above will be:
Tove
Jani
Reminder
Don't forget me this weekend!
Another XML File
Assume we have an XML file called "books.xml", that looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<bookstore>
<book category="COOKING">
<title lang="en">Everyday Italian</title>
<author>Giada De Laurentiis</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>30.00</price>
</book>
<book category="CHILDREN">
<title lang="en">Harry Potter</title>
<author>J K. Rowling</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>29.99</price>
</book>
<book category="WEB">
<title lang="en-us">XQuery Kick Start</title>
<author>James McGovern</author>
<year>2003</year>
<price>49.99</price>
</book>
<book category="WEB">
<title lang="en-us">Learning XML</title>
<author>Erik T. Ray</author>
<year>2003</year>
<price>39.95</price>
</book>
</bookstore>
PHP SimpleXML - Get Node Values of Specific Elements
The following example gets the node value of the <title> element in the first and second <book> elements in the "books.xml" file:
Example
<?php
$xml=simplexml_load_file("books.xml") or die("Error: Cannot create object");
echo $xml->book[0]->title . "<br>";
echo $xml->book[1]->title;
?>
Run example »
The output of the code above will be:
Everyday Italian
Harry Potter
PHP SimpleXML - Get Node Values - Loop
The following example loops through all the <book> elements in the "books.xml" file, and gets the node values of the <title>, <author>, <year>, and <price> elements:
Example
<?php
$xml=simplexml_load_file("books.xml") or die("Error: Cannot create object");
foreach($xml->children() as $books) {
echo $books->title . ", ";
echo $books->author . ", ";
echo $books->year . ", ";
echo $books->price . "<br>";
}
?>
Run example »
The output of the code above will be:
Everyday Italian, Giada De Laurentiis, 2005, 30.00
Harry Potter, J K. Rowling, 2005, 29.99
XQuery Kick Start, James McGovern, 2003, 49.99
Learning XML, Erik T. Ray, 2003, 39.95
PHP SimpleXML - Get Attribute Values
The following example gets the attribute value of the "category" attribute of the first <book> element and the attribute value of the "lang" attribute of the <title> element in the second <book> element:
Example
<?php
$xml=simplexml_load_file("books.xml") or die("Error: Cannot create object");
echo $xml->book[0]['category'] . "<br>";
echo $xml->book[1]->title['lang'];
?>
Run example »
The output of the code above will be:
COOKING
en
PHP SimpleXML - Get Attribute Values - Loop
The following example gets the attribute values of the <title> elements in the "books.xml" file:
Example
<?php
$xml=simplexml_load_file("books.xml") or die("Error: Cannot create object");
foreach($xml->children() as $books) {
echo $books->title['lang'];
echo "<br>";
}
?>
Run example »
The output of the code above will be:
en
en
en-us
en-us
More PHP SimpleXML
For more information about the PHP SimpleXML functions, visit our PHP SimpleXML Reference.