Replace text in xml loaded with simplexml_load_file()?

Question

I have this xml file:

<flats>
    <flat>

        <images1>http://www.example.com/image1.jpg</images1>
        <images2>http://www.example.com/image1.jpg</images2>

    </flat>
</flats>

Which I need to load using php and then replace some node names to get this (just change image1 and image2 to images:

<flats>
    <flat>

        <images>http://www.example.com/image1.jpg</images>
        <images>http://www.example.com/image1.jpg</images>

    </flat>
</flats>

I managed to load and save the file, but I don't know how to replace the node names.

$xml_external_path = 'http://external-site.com/original.xml';
$xml = simplexml_load_file($xml_external_path);

$xml->asXml('updated.xml');

UPDATE: PHP

    $xml_external_path = 'http://external-site.com/original.xml';
    $xml = simplexml_load_file($xml_external_path);
    print_r($xml);
    $newXml = str_replace( 'images1', 'image',$xml ) ;
    print_r($newXml);

Community · Accepted Answer · 2023-11-14 22:24:31Z

1

If you want to just rename the <images1> and <images2> tags I suggest you go with the simplest solution, i.e. text replace using str_replace.

$xml_external_path = 'http://external-site.com/original.xml';
$xml = simplexml_load_file($xml_external_path);

$searches = ['<images1>', '<images2>', '</images1>', '</images2>'];
$replacements = ['<images>', '<images>', '</images>', '</images>'];

$newXml = simplexml_load_string( str_replace( $searches, $replacements, $xml->asXml() ) );
$newXml->asXml('updated.xml');

If you however need a more sophisticated way to handle the task you may want to take a look at the DOMDocument class and build your own new XML

edited Nov 14, 2023 at 22:24

CommunityBot

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answered Mar 17, 2015 at 13:33

mrun

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5 Comments

JPashs Over a year ago

not working, $searches and $replacements are arrays? you do the saving before the str_replace function?¿

mrun Over a year ago

Yes, they're arrays. And can you be more specific how exactly is it not working? Btw if you're using PHP before 5.4 you can't use that short syntax and should use $searches = array('<images1>', '<images2>', '</images1>', '</images2>'); and the same for $replacements.

JPashs Over a year ago

I updated my answer. See at the bottom. No errors, the replacement doesn't work at all.

JPashs Over a year ago

I think a xml file is not a string where I can use str_replace.

mrun Over a year ago

I updated my answer to save the new XML into a file and btw from the manual If the filename isn't specified, this function returns a string on success and FALSE on error.

michi · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-17 16:03:34Z

Parse the original xml and create a new xml:

$oldxml = simplexml_load_file("/path/to/file.xml");

// create a new XML trunk
$newxml = simplexml_load_string("<flats><flat/></flats>");

// iterate over child-nodes of <flat>
// check their name 
// if name contains "images", add a new child in $newxml

foreach ($oldxml->flat->children() as $key => $value) 
    if (substr($key, 0, 6) == "images") 
        $newxml->flat->addChild("images", $value);

// display new XML:

echo $newxml->asXML();

see it working: https://eval.in/301221

EDIT: If all children of <flat> are <imageX>, no need for checking $key:

foreach ($oldxml->flat->children() as $value) 
    $newxml->flat->addChild("images", $value);

EDIT: Here's a short and sweet selection of nodes to be changed using xpath:

foreach ($oldxml->xpath("/flats/flat/*[starts-with(local-name(), 'images')]") as $value)
    $newxml->flat->addChild("images", $value);

The xpath statement above will select all children of <flat> starting with "images" and put them in an array.

see it working: https://eval.in/301233

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