Pre-requisite: Read XML Basics
The SimpleXMLElement::xpath() function is an inbuilt function in PHP which runs XPath query on the XML document.
Syntax:
SimpleXMLElement::xpath( $path )
Parameters: This function accepts single parameter $path which is required. It is used to specify the XPath path of XML document.
Return Value: It returns an array of SimpleXMLElements on success or False on failure.
Note: This function is available on PHP 5.2.0 and newer version.
Example:
<?php // Loading XML document to $user $user = <<<XML <user> <id>12345</id> <username>Geeks123</username> <name>neveropen</name> <phone>+91-XXXXXXXXXX</phone> <detail font-color="blue" font-size="24px"> Noida India </detail> </user> XML; // Loading string as simple xml object $xml = simplexml_load_string($user); // Retrieving xpaths $result = $xml->xpath("username"); // Printing output print_r($result); ?> |
Output:
Array
(
[0] => SimpleXMLElement Object
(
[0] => Geeks123
)
)
Example 2:
<?php // Loading XML document to $user $user = <<<XML <single_user id="1"> <user_id:id>12345</user_id:id> <username>Geeks123</username> <name>neveropen</name> <phone>+91-XXXXXXXXXX</phone> <detail font-color="blue" font-size="24px"> Noida India </detail> </single_user> <single_user id="2"> <user_id:id>15980</user_id:id> <username>Geeks54321</username> <name>Geeks</name> <phone>+91-XXXXXXXXXX</phone> <detail font-color="blue" font-size="24px"> Noida India </detail> </single_user> </user> XML; // Loading string as simple xml object $xml = simplexml_load_string($user); // Registering xpath namespace // Retrieving xpaths $result = $xml->xpath('//u:id'); // Printing output foreach ($result as $id) { echo $id . "<br>"; } ?> |
Output:
12345
15980
Example 3:
<?php // Loading XML document to $user $user = <<<XML <user_id:id>12345</user_id:id> <username>rakesh123</username> <name:firstname>Rakesh</name:firstname> <name:lastname>Kumar</name:lastname> <phone>+91-XXXXXXXXXX</phone> <detail>Noida India</detail> </single_user> <user_id:id>57833</user_id:id> <username>man123</username> <name:firstname>Manjeet</name:firstname> <name:lastname>Singh</name:lastname> <phone>+91-XXXXXXXXXX</phone> <detail>Kolkata, India</detail> </single_user> <user_id:id>98944</user_id:id> <username>ak98</username> <name:firstname>Ak</name:firstname> <name:lastname>Singh</name:lastname> <phone>+91-XXXXXXXXXX</phone> <detail>Noida India</detail> </single_user> </user> XML; // Loading string as simple xml object $xml = simplexml_load_string($user); // Registering xpath namespace // Retrieving xpaths $result = $xml->xpath('//u:id'); $result_f_name = $xml->xpath('//un:firstname'); $result_l_name = $xml->xpath('//un:lastname'); // Printing output foreach ($result as $id) { echo $id . "<br>"; } foreach ($result_f_name as $f_name) { echo $f_name . "<br>"; } foreach ($result_l_name as $l_name) { echo $l_name . "<br>"; } ?> |
Output:
12345
57833
98944
Rakesh
Manjeet
Ak
Kumar
Singh
Singh
Reference: https://www.php.net/manual/en/simplexmlelement.xpath.php
