Get value from SimpleXMLElement Object

213
votes

I have something like this:

$url = "http://ws.geonames.org/findNearbyPostalCodes?country=pl&placename=";
$url .= rawurlencode($city[$i]);

$xml = simplexml_load_file($url);
echo $url."\n";
$cityCode[] = array(
    'city' => $city[$i], 
    'lat' => $xml->code[0]->lat, 
    'lng' => $xml->code[0]->lng
);

It's supposed to download XML from geonames. If I do print_r($xml) I get : 

SimpleXMLElement Object
(
    [code] => Array
        (
            [0] => SimpleXMLElement Object
                (
                    [postalcode] => 01-935
                    [name] => Warszawa
                    [countryCode] => PL
                    [lat] => 52.25
                    [lng] => 21.0
                    [adminCode1] => SimpleXMLElement Object
                        (
                        )

                    [adminName1] => Mazowieckie
                    [adminCode2] => SimpleXMLElement Object
                        (
                        )

                    [adminName2] => Warszawa
                    [adminCode3] => SimpleXMLElement Object
                        (
                        )

                    [adminName3] => SimpleXMLElement Object
                        (
                        )

                    [distance] => 0.0
                )

I do as you can see $xml->code[0]->lat and it returns an object. How can i get the value?

12
phpsimplexml
possible duplicate of Forcing a SimpleXML Object to a string, regardless of context – hakre
2017 Update: SO no longer displays the best answer at the top. The best answer is here. – rinogo
@rinogo You've probably accidentally clicked one of the sorting tabs at the top of the answer block. The answer you linked to has 345 votes, so shows at the top if you have sorting set to "votes". – IMSoP
Thanks, @IMSoP! You're right - I must have clicked "active" at some point (useful for old questions with outdated answers, btw) - good to know I need to change it back to "votes"! :) – rinogo

12 Answers

453
votes

You have to cast simpleXML Object to a string.

$value = (string) $xml->code[0]->lat;
99
votes

You can also use the magic method __toString()

$xml->code[0]->lat->__toString()
18
votes

If you know that the value of the XML element is a float number (latitude, longitude, distance), you can use (float)

$value = (float) $xml->code[0]->lat;

Also, (int) for integer number:

$value = (int) $xml->code[0]->distance;
16
votes

if you don't know the value of XML Element, you can use

$value = (string) $xml->code[0]->lat;

if (ctype_digit($value)) {
    // the value is probably an integer because consists only of digits
}

It works when you need to determine if value is a number, because (string) will always return string and is_int($value) returns false

15
votes

For me its easier to use arrays than objects,

So, I convert an Xml-Object,

$xml = simplexml_load_file('xml_file.xml');    
$json_string = json_encode($xml);    
$result_array = json_decode($json_string, TRUE);
2
votes

This is the function that has always helped me convert the xml related values to array

function _xml2array ( $xmlObject, $out = array () ){
    foreach ( (array) $xmlObject as $index => $node )
        $out[$index] = ( is_object ( $node ) ) ? _xml2array ( $node ) : $node;

    return $out;
}
2
votes

try current($xml->code[0]->lat)

it returns element under current pointer of array, which is 0, so you will get value

2
votes

you can use the '{}' to access you property, and then you can do as you wish. Save it or display the content.

    $varName = $xml->{'key'};

From your example her's the code

        $filePath = __DIR__ . 'Your path ';
        $fileName = 'YourFilename.xml';

        if (file_exists($filePath . $fileName)) {
            $xml = simplexml_load_file($filePath . $fileName);
            $mainNode = $xml->{'code'};

            $cityArray = array();

            foreach ($mainNode as $key => $data)        {
               $cityArray[..] = $mainNode[$key]['cityCode'];
               ....

            }     

        }
0
votes
header("Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf8");
$url  = simplexml_load_file("http://URI.com");

 foreach ($url->PRODUCT as $product) {  
    foreach($urun->attributes() as $k => $v) {
        echo $k." : ".$v.' <br />';
    }
    echo '<hr/>';
}
0
votes

you can convert array with this function

function xml2array($xml){
$arr = array();

foreach ($xml->children() as $r)
{
    $t = array();
    if(count($r->children()) == 0)
    {
        $arr[$r->getName()] = strval($r);
    }
    else
    {
        $arr[$r->getName()][] = xml2array($r);
    }
}
return $arr;
}
0
votes
$codeZero = null;
foreach ($xml->code->children() as $child) {
   $codeZero = $child;
}

$lat = null;
foreach ($codeZero->children() as $child) {
   if (isset($child->lat)) {
      $lat = $child->lat;
   }
}
-2
votes
foreach($xml->code as $vals )
{ 
    unset($geonames);
    $vals=(array)$vals;
    foreach($vals as $key => $value)
      {
        $value=(array)$value;
        $geonames[$key]=$value[0];
      }
}
print_r($geonames);