XML to Array? [PHP]

Question

Well I been having issues changing an xml back into an array....It would be simple if each xml followed the same format but every XML is different with the exception of the <Formula> tag, formulaname and movespeed ex:

<Formula>
<formulaname>Basic</formulaname>
<movespeed>1</movespeed>
<str>4</str>
<dex>3</dex>
<int>1</int>
<will>2</will>
</Formula>

or

<Formula>
<formulaname>Basic</formulaname>
<movespeed>1</movespeed>
<box>4</box>
<chicken>3</chicken>
<ducks>1</ducks>
<cereal>2</cereal>
</Formula>

What I have tried:

$xml = simplexml_load_file("test.xml");
print_r($xml);

This actually prints something but I couldn't get past that or even echo it..

foreach($xml->text as $string) { 
  print_r($string);
  echo 'attributes: '. $string->attributes() .'<br />';
}

Didn't work, originally it's for strings but none of them are strings...

foreach ($xml->Formula as $element) {
  foreach($element as $key => $val) {
   echo "{$key}: {$val}";
  }

Didn't work either, I needed something like this to work so I can use the values from the array without knowing what exactly the value will be called..

Does your XML have a root tag? Or is it just a bunch of formula tags? — Ja͢ck
– Ja͢ck, Commented Aug 27, 2012 at 19:56
Are you in a position to not use XML? If you're able to use JSON instead, a simple json_decode($json, TRUE) call would be all that you'd need. — FtDRbwLXw6
– FtDRbwLXw6, Commented Aug 27, 2012 at 19:56
attributes are an object, typecast it as an array $attributes = $string->attributes(); $attributes = (array) $attributes; then you can snag whatever you want. — wesside
– wesside, Commented Aug 27, 2012 at 19:58
The xml is as displayed pretty much, also yes I'm sadly locked into using an XML. $attributes = $string->attributes(); $attributes = (array); echo 'attributes: '. $attributes .'<br />'; Error'd — Ginzo Milani
– Ginzo Milani, Commented Aug 27, 2012 at 20:02
Suggest reading here: php.net/manual/en/class.simplexmliterator.php -- there are several XMl2Array example functions in the comments. — Spudley
– Spudley, Commented Aug 27, 2012 at 21:19

jerdiggity · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-04 07:23:01Z

20

This is your best bet, and it should eliminate all the SimpleXMLElement objects and instead give you nothing but arrays:

$xml = simplexml_load_file("test.xml");
$xml_array = unserialize(serialize(json_decode(json_encode((array) $xml), 1)));
print_r($xml_array);

Makes the difference between this:

Array with SimpleXMLElement objects

And this:

All arrays - no mixture with SimpleXMLElement objects

Hope that helps... :)

answered Aug 4, 2013 at 7:23

jerdiggity

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2 Comments

SergO Over a year ago

Works for me in short variant: $xml_array = json_decode(json_encode((array) $firmInfoXml), 1)

Alain Over a year ago

even shorter: json_decode(json_encode($xml), 1); (no need to cast)

Ja͢ck · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-27 20:10:00Z

9

You can't access children by using a foreach on the node itself, you need to use .children():

$s =<<<EOS
<root>
<Formula>
<formulaname>Basic</formulaname>
<movespeed>1</movespeed>
<box>4</box>
<chicken>3</chicken>
<ducks>1</ducks>
<cereal>2</cereal>
</Formula>
</root>
EOS;

$xml = simplexml_load_string($s);

foreach ($xml->Formula as $element) {
    foreach($element->children() as $key => $val) {
        echo "{$key}: {$val}";
    }
}

edited Aug 27, 2012 at 20:10

answered Aug 27, 2012 at 19:59

Ja͢ck

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5 Comments

Ginzo Milani Over a year ago

It didn't echo anything out v.v

Ja͢ck Over a year ago

@GinzoMilani updated my answer to something that worked for me

Ginzo Milani Over a year ago

teamrequeue.net/DMQuests/upload/users/monckey100/formulas/… That's the xml I'm using as a test, the contents vary from each xml though

halfer Over a year ago

@GinzoMilani - can you explain in more detail why this doesn't work for you? As far as I can tell if you put your XML in the above code, it should print out the child elements. +1

Ja͢ck Over a year ago

@GinzoMilani your XML should have a root node; if you don't have one you can skip the outer loop :)

mrok · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-27 21:31:05Z

9

for your example this code is enough:

$xml = simplexml_load_file('formula.xml');
$arr = (array) $xml;
var_dump($arr);

and your xml goes into array
formula.xml contains your xml

answered Aug 27, 2012 at 21:31

mrok

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1 Comment

Alain Over a year ago

works for only 1 level (for deeper trees, @jerdiggity's answer is better)

Roey · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-18 07:14:27Z

3

If you have cdata and and attributes in the same node, using the methods above will omit the attributes.

try using this method:

function xml2array($xmlObject, $out = [])
{
    foreach($xmlObject->attributes() as $attr => $val)
        $out['@attributes'][$attr] = (string)$val;

    $has_childs = false;
    foreach($xmlObject as $index => $node)
    {
        $has_childs = true;
        $out[$index][] = xml2array($node);
    }
    if (!$has_childs && $val = (string)$xmlObject)
        $out['@value'] = $val;

    foreach ($out as $key => $vals)
    {
        if (is_array($vals) && count($vals) === 1 && array_key_exists(0, $vals))
            $out[$key] = $vals[0];
    }
    return $out;
}
$xml = simplexml_load_string($xml_string, 'SimpleXMLElement', LIBXML_NOCDATA);
$arr = xml2array($xml);

edited Feb 18, 2014 at 7:14

answered Feb 17, 2014 at 15:26

Roey

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2 Comments

Alain Over a year ago

adds a useless @value key on each node even when not required (eg: when there are no attribute), but +1 for pointing out that attributes are lost on above ways when node contains a value.

lalengua Over a year ago

+1 It's not useless as you know it is a value and not an attribute. If you would need to parse the resulting array you don't need to check if the node has attributes before interpreting the values as such. This should be the accepted answer as the question is how to convert an xml into an array in php (without loosing data)

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