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PHP | DOMNode normalize() Function

The DOMNode::normalize() function is an inbuilt function in PHP which is used to remove empty text nodes and merge adjacent text nodes in this node and all its children.

Syntax:

void DOMNode::normalize( void )

Parameters: This function doesn’t accept any parameters.

Return Value: This function does not return any value.

Below examples illustrate the DOMNode::normalize() function in PHP:

Example 1: In this program, we will show how normalize removes empty text nodes.




<?php
   
// Create a new DOMDocument instance
$document = new DOMDocument();
   
// Create a div element
$element = $document->
    appendChild(new DOMElement('div'));
   
// Create a text Node
$text1 = $document->
    createTextNode('neveropen');
   
// Create a empty text Node
$text2 = $document->createTextNode('');
   
// Create another empty text Node
$text3 = $document->createTextNode('');
   
// Append the nodes
$element->appendChild($text1);
$element->appendChild($text2);
$element->appendChild($text3);
   
echo "Number of text nodes before normalization: ";
echo count($element->childNodes) . "<br>";
   
// Normalize the document
$document->normalize();
   
echo "Number of text nodes after normalization: ";
echo count($element->childNodes);
?>


Output:

Number of text nodes before normalization: 3
Number of text nodes after normalization: 1

Example 2: In this program, we will show how normalize merges all neighbor text nodes.




<?php
  
// Create a new DOMDocument instance
$document = new DOMDocument();
  
// Create a div element
$element = $document->
    appendChild(new DOMElement('div'));
  
// Create a text Node
$text1 = $document->
               createTextNode('Hello');
  
// Create another text Node
$text2 = $document->
               createTextNode('World');
  
// Append the nodes
$element->appendChild($text1);
$element->appendChild($text2);
  
echo "Number of text nodes "
                . "before normalization: ";
echo count($element->childNodes) . "<br>";
  
// Normalize the document
$document->normalize();
  
echo "Number of text nodes after "
                         . "normalization: ";
echo count($element->childNodes);
?>


Output:

Number of text nodes before normalization: 2
Number of text nodes after normalization: 1

Reference: https://www.php.net/manual/en/domnode.normalize.php

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