(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)
xml_parse_into_struct — Parse XML data into an array structure
This function parses an XML string into 2 parallel array structures, one
(index
) containing pointers to the location of the
appropriate values in the values
array. These last
two parameters must be passed by reference.
parser
A reference to the XML parser.
data
A string containing the XML data.
values
An array containing the values of the XML data
index
An array containing pointers to the location of the appropriate values in the $values.
xml_parse_into_struct() returns 0 for failure and 1 for
success. This is not the same as false
and true
, be careful with
operators such as ===.
Version | Description |
---|---|
8.0.0 |
parser expects an XMLParser
instance now; previously, a valid xml resource was expected.
|
Below is an example that illustrates the internal structure of
the arrays being generated by the function. We use a simple
note
tag embedded inside a
para
tag, and then we parse this and print out
the structures generated:
Example #1 xml_parse_into_struct() example
<?php
$simple = "<para><note>simple note</note></para>";
$p = xml_parser_create();
xml_parse_into_struct($p, $simple, $vals, $index);
xml_parser_free($p);
echo "Index array\n";
print_r($index);
echo "\nVals array\n";
print_r($vals);
?>
When we run that code, the output will be:
Index array Array ( [PARA] => Array ( [0] => 0 [1] => 2 ) [NOTE] => Array ( [0] => 1 ) ) Vals array Array ( [0] => Array ( [tag] => PARA [type] => open [level] => 1 ) [1] => Array ( [tag] => NOTE [type] => complete [level] => 2 [value] => simple note ) [2] => Array ( [tag] => PARA [type] => close [level] => 1 ) )
Event-driven parsing (based on the expat library) can get complicated when you have an XML document that is complex. This function does not produce a DOM style object, but it generates structures amenable of being traversed in a tree fashion. Thus, we can create objects representing the data in the XML file easily. Let's consider the following XML file representing a small database of aminoacids information:
Example #2 moldb.xml - small database of molecular information
<?xml version="1.0"?> <moldb> <molecule> <name>Alanine</name> <symbol>ala</symbol> <code>A</code> <type>hydrophobic</type> </molecule> <molecule> <name>Lysine</name> <symbol>lys</symbol> <code>K</code> <type>charged</type> </molecule> </moldb>
Example #3 parsemoldb.php - parses moldb.xml into an array of molecular objects
<?php
class AminoAcid {
var $name; // aa name
var $symbol; // three letter symbol
var $code; // one letter code
var $type; // hydrophobic, charged or neutral
function __construct ($aa)
{
foreach ($aa as $k=>$v)
$this->$k = $aa[$k];
}
}
function readDatabase($filename)
{
// read the XML database of aminoacids
$data = file_get_contents($filename);
$parser = xml_parser_create();
xml_parser_set_option($parser, XML_OPTION_CASE_FOLDING, 0);
xml_parser_set_option($parser, XML_OPTION_SKIP_WHITE, 1);
xml_parse_into_struct($parser, $data, $values, $tags);
xml_parser_free($parser);
// loop through the structures
foreach ($tags as $key=>$val) {
if ($key == "molecule") {
$molranges = $val;
// each contiguous pair of array entries are the
// lower and upper range for each molecule definition
for ($i=0; $i < count($molranges); $i+=2) {
$offset = $molranges[$i] + 1;
$len = $molranges[$i + 1] - $offset;
$tdb[] = parseMol(array_slice($values, $offset, $len));
}
} else {
continue;
}
}
return $tdb;
}
function parseMol($mvalues)
{
for ($i=0; $i < count($mvalues); $i++) {
$mol[$mvalues[$i]["tag"]] = $mvalues[$i]["value"];
}
return new AminoAcid($mol);
}
$db = readDatabase("moldb.xml");
echo "** Database of AminoAcid objects:\n";
print_r($db);
?>
** Database of AminoAcid objects: Array ( [0] => aminoacid Object ( [name] => Alanine [symbol] => ala [code] => A [type] => hydrophobic ) [1] => aminoacid Object ( [name] => Lysine [symbol] => lys [code] => K [type] => charged ) )