SimpleXML Attributes to Array

Question

Is there any more elegant way to escape SimpleXML attributes to an array?

$result = $xml->xpath( $xpath );
$element = $result[ 0 ];
$attributes = (array) $element->attributes();
$attributes = $attributes[ '@attributes' ];

I don't really want to have to loop through it just to extract the key/value pair. All I need is to get it into an array and then pass it on. I would have thought attributes() would have done it by default, or at least given the option. But I couldn't even find the above solution anywhere, I had to figure that out on my own. Am I over complicating this or something?

Edit:

I'm still using the above script until I know for sure whether accessing the @attributes array is safe or not.

score 62 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 03 '12 at 05:24

62

a more elegant way; it gives you the same results without using $attributes[ '@attributes' ] :

$attributes = current($element->attributes());

answered Dec 03 '12 at 05:24

silverskater

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Absolutely simply, compact and less operations. – abdulmanov.ilmir Oct 17 '13 at 00:59
2

Nice, thank You! I usually add `current(...) ?: []` because in case the XML element has no attributes, `current(...)` returns `false` where empty array would be (imho) more appropriate. – Roman Hocke Jun 29 '22 at 10:58

gen_Eric · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-11T19:52:24.533

12

Don't directly read the '@attributes' property, that's for internal use. Anyway, attributes() can already be used as an array without needing to "convert" to a real array.

For example:

<?php
$xml = '<xml><test><a a="b" r="x" q="v" /></test><b/></xml>';
$x = new SimpleXMLElement($xml);

$attr = $x->test[0]->a[0]->attributes();
echo $attr['a']; // "b"

If you want it to be a "true" array, you're gonna have to loop:

$attrArray = array();
$attr = $x->test[0]->a[0]->attributes();

foreach($attr as $key=>$val){
    $attrArray[(string)$key] = (string)$val;
}

edited Jul 11 '12 at 19:52

answered Jul 11 '12 at 19:32

gen_Eric

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Yes, but the problem with this is that it still thinks of itself as a SimpleXML element and therefore you would have to typecast `$attr[ 'a' ]` to a string for it to work properly. I'm passing this array to another class that doesn't know what type its supposed to be, only that it needs to be an array. – mseancole Jul 11 '12 at 19:39
Ah, you got it in the edit... Is the loop "better" than what I'm currently doing? I would think that doing so without a loop would be quicker. – mseancole Jul 11 '12 at 19:42
@showerhead: I don't know if it's better, but I've always learned not to directly read the `'@attributes'` property. – gen_Eric Jul 11 '12 at 19:53
@showerhead: Maybe I'm wrong, I'm not sure where I got that from. If it works for you, I say use it. The docs don't mention `'@attributes'` at all, neither use it nor not use it. – gen_Eric Jul 11 '12 at 20:14
I'll keep an eye out for it. Assuming no other answers appear I'll accept this one later tonight. Though I think I'll do some performance tests on the two solutions to see which one works better. – mseancole Jul 11 '12 at 20:26
What is drawback from reading directly the `@attributes` property – PoX Jul 11 '12 at 20:32
@PoX: I'm not 100% sure. I just always thought you shouldn't. I could be wrong. =/ – gen_Eric Jul 11 '12 at 20:36
Interface `Traversible`, which is what `SimpleXmlElement` implements does not allow to use `array_*()` methods. This is where you need real array. – Im0rtality Mar 17 '14 at 14:14

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered May 13 '14 at 08:31

4

You could convert the whole xml document into an array:

$array = json_decode(json_encode((array) simplexml_load_string("<response>{$xml}</response>")), true);

For more information see: https://github.com/gaarf/XML-string-to-PHP-array

answered May 13 '14 at 08:31

Kus

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 13 '18 at 12:15

For me below method worked

function xmlToArray(SimpleXMLElement $xml)
{
    $parser = function (SimpleXMLElement $xml, array $collection = []) use (&$parser) {
        $nodes = $xml->children();
        $attributes = $xml->attributes();

        if (0 !== count($attributes)) {
            foreach ($attributes as $attrName => $attrValue) {
                $collection['@attributes'][$attrName] = strval($attrValue);
            }
        }

        if (0 === $nodes->count()) {
            if($xml->attributes())
            {
                $collection['value'] = strval($xml);
            }
            else
            {
                $collection = strval($xml);
            }
            return $collection;
        }

        foreach ($nodes as $nodeName => $nodeValue) {
            if (count($nodeValue->xpath('../' . $nodeName)) < 2) {
                $collection[$nodeName] = $parser($nodeValue);
                continue;
            }

            $collection[$nodeName][] = $parser($nodeValue);
        }

        return $collection;
    };

    return [
        $xml->getName() => $parser($xml)
    ];
}

This also provides me all the attributes as well, which I didn't get from any other method.

PoX · Answer 5 · 2012-07-11T20:25:22.610

I think you will have to loop through. You can get it into array once you read xml.

<?php
function objectsIntoArray($arrObjData, $arrSkipIndices = array())
{
$arrData = array();

// if input is object, convert into array
if (is_object($arrObjData)) {
    $arrObjData = get_object_vars($arrObjData);
}

if (is_array($arrObjData)) {
    foreach ($arrObjData as $index => $value) {
        if (is_object($value) || is_array($value)) {
            $value = objectsIntoArray($value, $arrSkipIndices); // recursive call
        }
        if (in_array($index, $arrSkipIndices)) {
            continue;
        }
        $arrData[$index] = $value;
    }
}
return $arrData;
}

$xmlStr = file_get_contents($xml_file);
$xmlObj = simplexml_load_string($xmlStr);
$arrXml = objectsIntoArray($xmlObj);

foreach($arrXml as $attr)
  foreach($attr as $key->$val){
 if($key == '@attributes') ....
}

What is `objectsIntoArray`? Also, you shouldn't read the `'@attributes'` directly, that's what `->attributes()` is for. — gen_Eric, Jul 11 '12 at 19:49
Sorry, I pasted from my code missing top part just edited it. — PoX, Jul 11 '12 at 20:24

SimpleXML Attributes to Array

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