PHP: foreach not forming an array

Question

I do this and it works.

<?php
    function load_file($url) 
    {
        $ch = curl_init($url);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
        $xml = simplexml_load_string(curl_exec($ch));
        return $xml;
    }

    $feedurl = 'http://www.astrology.com/horoscopes/daily-extended.rss';
    $rss = load_file($feedurl);

    $items = array();
    $count = 0;
    foreach ($rss->channel->item->description as $i => $description) 
    {
        $items[$count++] = $description;
    }
    echo $items[0];
?>

When I echo $items[1]; it doesn't show the next one in line. Not sure what I did wrong.

how many items are there in $rss->channel->item->description (associative) array? — Lorenzo Marcon
– Lorenzo Marcon, Commented Sep 7, 2012 at 8:30
var_dump($items) see what it returns. And what is the xml format ? — Poonam
– Poonam, Commented Sep 7, 2012 at 8:31
there are 12 <items>s and inside each <item> there is one <description> — user1053263
– user1053263, Commented Sep 7, 2012 at 8:32
Seems like foreach just loops one time. My guess is to iterate $rss->channel->item instead — Ms01
– Ms01, Commented Sep 7, 2012 at 8:34

Thomas Clayson · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-07 08:34:57Z

4

Here is an example of your xml:

<channel>
    <item>
        <description>blah</description>
    </item>
    <item>
        <description>blah1</description>
    </item>
    <item>
        <description>blah2</description>
    </item>
    <item>
        <description>blah3</description>
    </item>
</channel>

When you do $rss->channel->item->description you're getting the first item's description.

You need to first loop through the items and then get each description.

e.g.:

$descriptions = array();
foreach($rss->channel->item as $item){
    $descriptions[] = $item->description;
    // note I don't need the $count variable... if you just use
    // [] then it auto increments the array count for you.
}

Hope that helps. Its untested, but should work.

answered Sep 7, 2012 at 8:34

Thomas Clayson

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2 Comments

user1053263 Over a year ago

this makes sense, trying this now.

user1053263 Over a year ago

you're the man, this worked, it won't let me accept your answer for 4 more minutes, I appreciate it your time, I'll accept your answer as soon as it lets me!

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