Replace content of node using PHP and XPath

Question

I have a string of 'source html' and a string of 'replacement html'. In the 'source html' I want to look for a node with a specific class and replace its content with my 'replacement html'. I have tried using the replaceChild method, but this seems to require that I traverse a level up (parentNode).

This doesn't work

  $dom = new DOMDocument;
  $dom->loadXml($sourceHTML);

  $replacement = $dom->createDocumentFragment();
  $replacement->appendXML($replacementHTML);

  $xpath = new DOMXPath($dom);
  $oldNode = $xpath->query('//div[contains(@class,"arrangement--index__field-dato")]')->item(0);
  $oldNode->replaceChild($replacement, $oldNode);

This works, but it's not the content which is being replaced

  $dom = new DOMDocument;
  $dom->loadXml($sourceHTML);

  $replacement = $dom->createDocumentFragment();
  $replacement->appendXML($replacementHTML);

  $xpath = new DOMXPath($dom);
  $oldNode = $xpath->query('//div[contains(@class,"arrangement--index__field-dato")]')->item(0);
  $oldNode->parentNode->replaceChild($replacement, $oldNode);

How do I replace the content or the node I have queried for?

Jens Erat · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-08 21:41:42Z

1

Instead of replacing the child node, loop over it's children, drop them and insert the new content as child node. Something like

foreach ($oldNode->childNodes as $child)
  $oldNode->removeChild($child);
$oldNode->appendChild($replacement);

This will replace the contents (children) instead of the node itself.

edited Mar 8, 2014 at 21:41

answered Mar 8, 2014 at 21:28

Jens Erat

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1 Comment

pperrin Over a year ago

Rather than remove the child nodes one by one, you could just... $oldNode->nodeValue="";

tolborg · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-08 21:22:27Z

0

This seems to work!

  $dom = new DOMDocument;
  $dom->loadXml($sourceHTML);

  $replacement = $dom->createDocumentFragment();
  $replacement->appendXML($replacementHTML);

  $xpath = new DOMXPath($dom);
  $oldNode = $xpath->query('//div[contains(@class,"arrangement--index__field-dato")]')->item(0);
  $oldNode->removeChild($oldNode->firstChild);
  $oldNode->appendChild($replacement);

answered Mar 8, 2014 at 21:22

tolborg

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1 Comment

Jens Erat Over a year ago

Be aware that there might be multiple child nodes, so you'd better loop over that node and delete all of them. See my answer.

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