Pre-requisite: Read XML Basics
The SimpleXMLElement::children() function is an inbuilt function in PHP which returns children of a given node in a SimpleXML object.
Syntax:
SimpleXMLElement SimpleXMLElement::children( $namespace, $is_prefix )
Parameter: This function accepts two parameters as mentioned above and described below:
- $namespace: It is optional parameter. It specifies the XML namespace.
- $is_prefix: It is boolean parameter which is optional. It is True if $namespace is a prefix and False if $namespace is namespace URL. Its default value is False.
Return Value: This function returns a SimpleXMLElement object.
Note: This function is available on PHP 5.0.1 and newer version.
Below programs illustrate the SimpleXMLElement::children() function in PHP:
Program 1: This program displays the value of child node.
php
<?php// Loading XML document to $user$user = <<<XML<user> <username>Geeks123</username> <name>neveropen</name> <phone>+91-XXXXXXXXXX</phone> <address> Noida, UP, India </address></user>XML;// Loading string as simple xml object$xml = simplexml_load_string($user);// Print children nodeforeach($xml->children() as $child) { echo "Child node: " . $child . "</br>";}?> |
Output:
Child node: Geeks123 Child node: neveropen Child node: +91-XXXXXXXXXX Child node: Noida, UP, India
Program 2: This program displays the tag name and its value.
php
<?php// Loading XML document to $user$user = <<<XML<user> <username>Geeks123</username> <name>neveropen</name> <phone>+91-XXXXXXXXXX</phone> <address> Noida, UP, India </address></user>XML;// Loading string as simple xml object$xml = simplexml_load_string($user);// Print children nodeforeach($xml->children() as $child) { echo "Child node: " . $child->getName() . " => " . $child . "</br>";}?> |
Output:
Child node: username => Geeks123 Child node: name => neveropen Child node: phone => +91-XXXXXXXXXX Child node: address => Noida, UP, India
Program 3: This program retrieving the children attribute name with its value.
php
<?php// Loading XML document to $user$user = <<<XML<user> <username font-color="green" font="awesome-fonts" font-size="72px"> Geeks123 </username> <name font-color="blue" font="awesome-fonts" font-size="36px"> neveropen </name> <phone font-color="blue" type="number" font="awesome-fonts" font-size="24px"> +91-XXXXXXXXXX </phone> <address font-color="blue" font="awesome-fonts" font-size="24px"> Noida, UP, India </address></user>XML;// Loading string as simple xml object$xml = simplexml_load_string($user);// Print children attributeforeach($xml->children() as $child) { echo "Child name: " . $child->getName() . " =>" . $child . "<br>"; foreach($child->attributes() as $key => $value) echo " parameter: " . $key . " => " . $value . "</br>";}?> |
Output:
Child name: username => Geeks123
parameter: font-color => green
parameter: font => awesome-fonts
parameter: font-size => 72px
Child name: name => neveropen
parameter: font-color => blue
parameter: font => awesome-fonts
parameter: font-size => 36px
Child name: phone => +91-XXXXXXXXXX
parameter: font-color => blue
parameter: type => number
parameter: font => awesome-fonts
parameter: font-size => 24px
Child name: address => Noida, UP, India
parameter: font-color => blue
parameter: font => awesome-fonts
parameter: font-size => 24px
Reference: https://www.php.net/manual/en/simplexmlelement.children.php
