SimpleXML
SimpleXML provides a simple way to parse XML into an object with familiar property/array access syntax. Great for reading RSS feeds and simple XML files.
PHP
Intermediate
5 min read
SimpleXML for Parsing XML
Example
<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_string('<root>
<user id="1">
<name>Alice</name>
<email>alice@example.com</email>
<roles>
<role>admin</role>
<role>editor</role>
</roles>
</user>
</root>');
echo $xml->user->name; // "Alice"
echo $xml->user["id"]; // "1" (attribute)
foreach ($xml->user->roles->role as $role) {
echo $role . "
"; // "admin", "editor"
}
// Convert to array
$array = json_decode(json_encode($xml), true); Pro Tip
Cast SimpleXML elements to string with (string) before using them in string contexts — they are objects, not strings.