How to parse XML files with errors using Simplexml in PHP?

Question

So I use simplexml with the XML parsing in PHP, but I found that some of the files I needed to parse contains errors. Of course, I could manually edit each and every problematic file, but at about 10000+ files, that would take me forever.

Okay, so about the error. When you try to open the XML file in the browser, this message shows up:

Specification mandate value for attribute error

Warning: simplexml_load_string(): Entity: line 2: parser error : Specification mandate value for attribute Inspection in ...

I found the ff. tag is triggering the error (here: Transport instead of Inspection):

<Public Transport Rules>
<PublicTransport id="0">
<Issued>null</Issued>
<Files>&lt;localfile&gt;
          &lt;location&gt;Citybus&lt;/location&gt;
          &lt;format&gt;Events&lt;/format&gt;
     &lt;/localfile&gt;
</Files>
</PublicTransport>
</Public Transport Rules>

The spaces within the tags is causing the issue, apparently. And these tags occur more than once in the file.

I think that simplexml parses by what it sees in the browser (at face value), so if there is a problem with your XML file, it wont be able to parse normally. I thought of making PHP parse by reading the source file instead, and perhaps editing the file from there. But it seems any fopens opens to what you read in the browser page.

Been stuck with this problem for a while now. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

a XML file should follow the XML spec therefore be valid 100% valid. however you could check goutte or symfony/domcrawler libraries for html like content. — mpm
– mpm, Commented Mar 25, 2013 at 17:01
so my only solution here is to change every single problem file? — demenzia
– demenzia, Commented Mar 25, 2013 at 17:03

hakre · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-02 13:34:06Z

If you can live with a renaming of the tag that has the spaces, tidy is a good option as it works on XML, too:

$xml = simplexml_load_string(
    tidy_repair_string($string, ['input-xml' => 1])
);

echo "SimpleXML::asXML():\n", $xml->asXML(), "\n\n";

It renames the tag and creates attributes:

SimpleXML::asXML():
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Public Transport="" Rules="">
<PublicTransport id="0">
<Issued>null</Issued>
<Files>&lt;localfile&gt; &lt;location&gt;Citybus&lt;/location&gt;
&lt;format&gt;Events&lt;/format&gt; &lt;/localfile&gt;</Files>
</PublicTransport>
</Public>

There are also more options for indentation etc., here a full example:

<?php
/**
 * How to parse XML files with errors using Simplexml in PHP?
 *
 * @link http://stackoverflow.com/q/15620492/367456
 */

$string = '<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<Public Transport Rules>
    <PublicTransport id="0">
        <Issued>null</Issued>
        <Files>&lt;localfile&gt;
                  &lt;location&gt;Citybus&lt;/location&gt;
                  &lt;format&gt;Events&lt;/format&gt;
             &lt;/localfile&gt;
        </Files>
    </PublicTransport>
</Public Transport Rules>';

echo "Broken:\n", $string, "\n\n";

$fixed = tidy_repair_string($string, ['input-xml' => 1, 'output-xml' => 1, 'indent' => 1]);

echo "Fixed:\n", $fixed, "\n\n";


$xml = simplexml_load_string(tidy_repair_string($string, ['input-xml' => 1]));

echo "SimpleXML::asXML():\n", $xml->asXML(), "\n\n";

And output:

Broken:
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<Public Transport Rules>
    <PublicTransport id="0">
        <Issued>null</Issued>
        <Files>&lt;localfile&gt;
                  &lt;location&gt;Citybus&lt;/location&gt;
                  &lt;format&gt;Events&lt;/format&gt;
             &lt;/localfile&gt;
        </Files>
    </PublicTransport>
</Public Transport Rules>

Fixed:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Public Transport="" Rules="">
  <PublicTransport id="0">
    <Issued>null</Issued>
    <Files>&lt;localfile&gt;
    &lt;location&gt;Citybus&lt;/location&gt;
    &lt;format&gt;Events&lt;/format&gt; &lt;/localfile&gt;</Files>
  </PublicTransport>
</Public>

SimpleXML::asXML():
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Public Transport="" Rules="">
<PublicTransport id="0">
<Issued>null</Issued>
<Files>&lt;localfile&gt; &lt;location&gt;Citybus&lt;/location&gt;
&lt;format&gt;Events&lt;/format&gt; &lt;/localfile&gt;</Files>
</PublicTransport>
</Public>

Álvaro González · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-25 17:14:31Z

DOM functions are designed to deal with invalid markup so you can give them a try:

<?php

$string = '<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<Public Transport Rules>
    <PublicTransport id="0">
        <Issued>null</Issued>
        <Files>&lt;localfile&gt;
                  &lt;location&gt;Citybus&lt;/location&gt;
                  &lt;format&gt;Events&lt;/format&gt;
             &lt;/localfile&gt;
        </Files>
    </PublicTransport>
</Public>';

$dom = new DOMDocument;
libxml_use_internal_errors(TRUE);
$dom->loadHTML($string);
libxml_use_internal_errors(FALSE);
$dom->formatOutput = TRUE;

echo '::: Original XML :::' . PHP_EOL;
echo $string . PHP_EOL;
echo PHP_EOL;

echo '::: Fixed XML :::' . PHP_EOL;
if( version_compare(PHP_VERSION, '5.3.6', '>=') ){
    $body = $dom->documentElement->firstChild;
    if( $body->hasChildNodes() ){
        foreach($body->childNodes as $node){
            echo $dom->saveHTML($node);
        }
    }
}else{
    $body = $dom->getElementsByTagName('body')->item(0);
    if( $body->hasChildNodes() ){
        foreach($body->childNodes as $node){
            echo $dom->saveHTML($node);
        }
    }
}
echo PHP_EOL;

... prints this:

::: Original XML :::
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<Public Transport Rules>
    <PublicTransport id="0">
        <Issued>null</Issued>
        <Files>&lt;localfile&gt;
                  &lt;location&gt;Citybus&lt;/location&gt;
                  &lt;format&gt;Events&lt;/format&gt;
             &lt;/localfile&gt;
        </Files>
    </PublicTransport>
</Public>

::: Fixed XML :::
<public transport rules><publictransport id="0"><issued>null</issued><files>&lt;localfile&gt;
                  &lt;location&gt;Citybus&lt;/location&gt;
                  &lt;format&gt;Events&lt;/format&gt;
             &lt;/localfile&gt;
        </files></publictransport></public>

There's no way to know what will be lost in the process but we're dealing with invalid data in the first place.

Whatever, you can always automatically edit each and every problematic file using PHP. Your files may not be XML but they're indeed strings ;-)

Thank you! :D All I needed was to be able to move past the data, which data isn't necessary for me, and be able to parse the other things in the XML file.

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