PHP Manual
SimpleXML Functions
Interprets a string of XML into an object

simplexml_load_string

(PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

simplexml_load_string — Interprets a string of XML into an object

Description

simplexml_load_string(
    string $data,
    ?string $class_name = SimpleXMLElement::class,
    int $options = 0,
    string $namespace_or_prefix = "",
    bool $is_prefix = false
): SimpleXMLElement|false

Takes a well-formed XML string and returns it as an object.

Parameters

data: A well-formed XML string
class_name: You may use this optional parameter so that simplexml_load_string() will return an object of the specified class. That class should extend the SimpleXMLElement class.
options: Since Libxml 2.6.0, you may also use the options parameter to specify additional Libxml parameters.
namespace_or_prefix: Namespace prefix or URI.
is_prefix: true if namespace_or_prefix is a prefix, false if it's a URI; defaults to false.

Return Values

Returns an object of class SimpleXMLElement with properties containing the data held within the xml document, or false on failure.

Warning

This function may return Boolean false, but may also return a non-Boolean value which evaluates to false. Please read the section on Booleans for more information. Use the === operator for testing the return value of this function.

Errors/Exceptions

Produces an E_WARNING error message for each error found in the XML data.

Tip

Use libxml_use_internal_errors() to suppress all XML errors, and libxml_get_errors() to iterate over them afterwards.

Examples

Example #1 Interpret an XML string


<?php
$string = <<<XML
<?xml version='1.0'?> 
<document>
 <title>Forty What?</title>
 <from>Joe</from>
 <to>Jane</to>
 <body>
  I know that's the answer -- but what's the question?
 </body>
</document>
XML;

$xml = simplexml_load_string($string);

print_r($xml);
?>

The above example will output:

SimpleXMLElement Object
(
  [title] => Forty What?
  [from] => Joe
  [to] => Jane
  [body] =>
   I know that's the answer -- but what's the question?
)

At this point, you can go about using $xml->body and such.