SimpleXMLElement::children

    (PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

    SimpleXMLElement::children — Finds children of given node

    Description

    public SimpleXMLElement::children(?string $namespaceOrPrefix = null, bool $isPrefix = false): ?SimpleXMLElement

    This method finds the children of an element. The result follows normal iteration rules.

    Note: SimpleXML has made a rule of adding iterative properties to most methods. They cannot be viewed using var_dump() or anything else which can examine objects.

    Parameters

    namespaceOrPrefix

    An XML namespace.

    isPrefix

    If isPrefix is true, namespaceOrPrefix will be regarded as a prefix. If false, namespaceOrPrefix will be regarded as a namespace URL.

    Return Values

    Returns a SimpleXMLElement element, whether the node has children or not, unless the node represents an attribute, in which case null is returned.

    Examples

    Example #1 Traversing a children() pseudo-array

    <?php
    $xml     = new SimpleXMLElement(
    '<person>
    <child role="son">
    <child role="daughter"/>
    </child>
    <child role="daughter">
    <child role="son">
    <child role="son"/>
    </child>
    </child>
    </person>'    );

    foreach (    $xml->children() as $second_gen) {
    echo     ' The person begot a ' . $second_gen['role'];

    foreach (    $second_gen->children() as $third_gen) {
    echo     ' who begot a ' . $third_gen['role'] . ';';

    foreach (    $third_gen->children() as $fourth_gen) {
    echo     ' and that ' . $third_gen['role'] .
    ' begot a ' . $fourth_gen['role'];
    }
    }
    }
    ?>

    The above example will output:

    The person begot a son who begot a daughter; The person
begot a daughter who begot a son; and that son begot a son

    Example #2 Using namespaces

    <?php
    $xml     = '<example xmlns:foo="my.foo.urn">
    <foo:a>Apple</foo:a>
    <foo:b>Banana</foo:b>
    <c>Cherry</c>
    </example>'    ;

    $sxe = new SimpleXMLElement($xml);

    $kids = $sxe->children('foo');
    var_dump(count($kids));

    $kids = $sxe->children('foo', TRUE);
    var_dump(count($kids));

    $kids = $sxe->children('my.foo.urn');
    var_dump(count($kids));

    $kids = $sxe->children('my.foo.urn', TRUE);
    var_dump(count($kids));

    $kids = $sxe->children();
    var_dump(count($kids));
    ?>
    int(0)
int(2)
int(2)
int(0)
int(1)

    See Also

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    User Contributed Notes 4 notes

    up
    13
    aero
    17 years ago
    Here's a simple, recursive, function to transform XML data into pseudo E4X syntax ie. root.child.value = foobar

    <?php
    error_reporting    (E_ALL);

    $xml = new SimpleXMLElement(
    '<Patriarch>
    <name>Bill</name>
    <wife>
    <name>Vi</name>
    </wife>
    <son>
    <name>Bill</name>
    </son>
    <daughter>
    <name>Jeri</name>
    <husband>
    <name>Mark</name>
    </husband>
    <son>
    <name>Greg</name>
    </son>
    <son>
    <name>Tim</name>
    </son>
    <son>
    <name>Mark</name>
    </son>
    <son>
    <name>Josh</name>
    <wife>
    <name>Kristine</name>
    </wife>
    <son>
    <name>Blake</name>
    </son>
    <daughter>
    <name>Liah</name>
    </daughter>
    </son>
    </daughter>
    </Patriarch>'    );

    RecurseXML($xml);

    function     RecurseXML($xml,$parent="")
    {
    $child_count = 0;
    foreach(    $xml as $key=>$value)
    {
    $child_count++;
    if(    RecurseXML($value,$parent.".".$key) == 0) // no childern, aka "leaf node"
    {
    print(    $parent . "." . (string)$key . " = " . (string)$value . "<BR>\n");
    }
    }
    return     $child_count;
    }

    ?>

    The output....

    .name = Bill
    .wife.name = Vi
    .son.name = Bill
    .daughter.name = Jeri
    .daughter.husband.name = Mark
    .daughter.son.name = Greg
    .daughter.son.name = Tim
    .daughter.son.name = Mark
    .daughter.son.name = Josh
    .daughter.son.wife.name = Kristine
    .daughter.son.son.name = Blake
    .daughter.son.daughter.name = Liah
    up
    7
    Sebastian
    19 years ago
    Just a quick addition:

    If you need to access a child node which contains a dash, you need to encapsulate it with {""}.

    For example:
    <?php
    foreach ($domain->domain-listing as $product) {
    }
    ?>

    The example above doesn't work because of the dash. But instead you need to use:
    <?php
    foreach ($domain->{"domain-listing"} as $product) {
    }
    ?>

    At least for me the second example works perfectly fine.
    up
    2
    transglobe at gmx dot de
    16 years ago
    I made a slightly differnt approch towards the RecurseXML function. Beeing hungry I had problems with the code, as it did just overwrite two <maincourse>s. So here is what I did:

    <?php

    $xml     = new SimpleXMLElement(
    '<meal>
    <type>Lunch</type>
    <time>12:30</time>
    <menu>
    <entree>salad</entree>
    <maincourse>
    <part>ships</part>
    <part>steak</part>
    </maincourse>
    <maincourse>
    <part>fisch</part>
    <part>rice</part>
    </maincourse>
    <maincourse>
    <part>wine</part>
    <part>cheese</part>
    </maincourse>
    </menu>
    </meal>'    );

    $vals = array();
    RecurseXML($xml,$vals);

    foreach(    $vals as $key=>$value)
    print(    "{$key} = {$value}<BR>\n");

    function     RecurseXML($xml,&$vals,$parent="") {

    $childs=0;
    $child_count=-1; # Not realy needed.
    $arr=array();
    foreach (    $xml->children() as $key=>$value) {
    if (    in_array($key,$arr)) {
    $child_count++;
    } else {
    $child_count=0;
    }
    $arr[]=$key;
    $k=($parent == "") ? "$key.$child_count" : "$parent.$key.$child_count";
    $childs=RecurseXML($value,$vals,$k);
    if (    $childs==0) {
    $vals[$k]= (string)$value;
    }
    }

    return     $childs;
    }

    ?>
    Output is like this:
    type.0 = Lunch
    time.0 = 12:30
    menu.0.entree.0 = salad
    menu.0.maincourse.0.part.0 = ships
    menu.0.maincourse.0.part.1 = steak
    menu.0.maincourse.0 =
    menu.0.maincourse.1.part.0 = fisch
    menu.0.maincourse.1.part.1 = rice
    menu.0.maincourse.1 =
    menu.0.maincourse.2.part.0 = wine
    menu.0.maincourse.2.part.1 = cheese
    menu.0.maincourse.2 =
    menu.0 =

    (Not beautiful, but it solved my case...)
    up
    0
    boan dot web at outlook dot com
    5 years ago
    SimpleXMLElement::children can return null in this case:

    <?php
    $xml     = '
    <root attr="Hello"/>
    '    ;

    $sxe = new SimpleXMLElement($xml);

    $sxe_xpath = $sxe->xpath('/root/@attr')[0];

    $children = $sxe_xpath->children();

    var_export($children); // Is null
    ?>
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