PHP - how to parse STRING field (remove some XML elements and all namespaces)?

Question

I really need a help about string parsing in field containg not valid XML value. I will display current value with target value to put in string field.

I have a field $xmlString with this value (elements are NOT in the SEPERATE lines but in the SAME line; it is web service response so I do not have impact on response only on later parsing):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv=" http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
    <soapenv:Body>
        <p:queryBillingAccountResponse xmlns:p="http://www.ibm.com">
            <ns0:customerAccount xmlns:ns0=" http://www.ibm.com/2009">
                <ComponentCustomerAccount>
                    <Name>ADSL 4</Name>
                    <CharacteristicValue>
                        <Characteristic>
                            <Name>Balance</Name>
                        </Characteristic>
                        <Value>0.0</Value>
                    </CharacteristicValue>
                    <AccountStatus>Paid</AccountStatus>
                </ComponentCustomerAccount>
            </ns0:customerAccount>
        </p:queryBillingAccountResponse>
    </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

I want this output if this is possible:

<queryBillingAccountResponse>
    <customerAccount>
        <ComponentCustomerAccount>
            <Name>ADSL 4</Name>
            <CharacteristicValue>
                <Characteristic>
                    <Name>Balance</Name>
                </Characteristic>
                    <Value>0.0</Value>
                </CharacteristicValue>
            <CharacteristicValue>
            <AccountStatus>Paid</AccountStatus>
        </ComponentCustomerAccount>
    </customerAccount>
</queryBillingAccountResponse>

So you will notice that I do not have first three lines (although they are not really seperate lines) and last two lines and I do not have namespaces defined for queryBilling AccountResponse and customer Account. I want these elements without namespace to be in string field. For both on start and end tag. I really need this output. How to parse this? I tried with SimpleXMLElement but could not parse it. Thank you for your help

Updated output which can not be parsed by $xml = simplexml_load_string($text);

<<<XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Envelope>
<Body>
<queryBillingAccountResponse>
<customerAccount>
<ComponentCustomerAccount>
<Name>ADSL 4</Name>
<CharacteristicValue>
<Characteristic>
<Name>Balance</Name>
</Characteristic>
<Value>0.0</Value>
</CharacteristicValue>
<AccountStatus>Paid</AccountStatus>
</ComponentCustomerAccount>
</customerAccount>
</queryBillingAccountResponse>
</Body>
</Envelope>
XML>

How is this different from your other question? Why should I not mark this as a duplicate? — Francis Avila
– Francis Avila, Commented Mar 23, 2013 at 12:42
please dont because I do not know how to remove namespaces. It is completely different. thank you for understanding — Stefke
– Stefke, Commented Mar 23, 2013 at 13:04

Déjà vu · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-23 14:06:50Z

In order to have a xml code that SimpleXML can understand, and since you don't need the namespaces declarations, the following code cleans the code before to apply it to simplexml_load_string

<?php
    // if the XML comes from a file (or just assign the $text string)
    $text = file_get_contents('myfile.xml');
    $text = preg_replace('/(<\s*)\w+:/','$1',$text);   // removes <xxx:
    $text = preg_replace('/(<\/\s*)\w+:/','$1',$text); // removes </xxx:
    $text = preg_replace('/\s+xmlns:[^>]+/','',$text); // removes xmlns:...

    // the code should be clean enough for SimpleXML to parse it
    $xml = simplexml_load_string($text);

    // view the XML (and process it afterwards...)
    print_r($xml);

To put the sample XML in a string (instead of a file)

    <?php
       $text = <<<XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv=" http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
    <soapenv:Body>
        <p:queryBillingAccountResponse xmlns:p="http://www.ibm.com">
            <ns0:customerAccount xmlns:ns0=" http://www.ibm.com/2009">
                <ComponentCustomerAccount>
                    <Name>ADSL 4</Name>
                    <CharacteristicValue>
                        <Characteristic>
                            <Name>Balance</Name>
                        </Characteristic>
                        <Value>0.0</Value>
                    </CharacteristicValue>
                    <AccountStatus>Paid</AccountStatus>
                </ComponentCustomerAccount>
            </ns0:customerAccount>
        </p:queryBillingAccountResponse>
    </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>
XML;

    $text = preg_replace('/(<\s*)\w+:/','$1',$text);   // removes <xxx:
    $text = preg_replace('/(<\/\s*)\w+:/','$1',$text); // removes </xxx:
    $text = preg_replace('/\s+xmlns:[^>]+/','',$text); // removes xmlns:...

    // the code should be clean enough for SimpleXML to parse it
    $xml = simplexml_load_string($text);

    // view the XML (and process it afterwards...)
    print_r($xml);

To access elements, use -> (and [xx] for arrays), e.g

    echo echo $xml->Body->queryBillingAccountResponse->customerAccount->ComponentCustomerAccount->Name . "\n";

will display

ADSL 4

SimpleXML doc

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