How to replace the text of a node using DOMDocument

Question

This is my code that loads an existing XML file or string into a DOMDocument object:

$doc = new DOMDocument();
$doc->formatOutput = true;

// the content actually comes from an external file
$doc->loadXML('<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
    <title></title>
    <description></description>
    <link></link>
</channel>
</rss>');

$doc->getElementsByTagName("title")->item(0)->appendChild($doc->createTextNode($titleText));
$doc->getElementsByTagName("description")->item(0)->appendChild($doc->createTextNode($descriptionText));
$doc->getElementsByTagName("link")->item(0)->appendChild($doc->createTextNode($linkText));

I need to overwrite the value inside the title, description and link tags. The Last three lines in the above code are my attempt at doing so; but seems like if the nodes are not empty then the text will be "appended" to existing content. How can I empty the text content of a node and append new text in one line.

lonesomeday · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-14 12:50:52Z

55

Set DOMNode::$nodeValue instead:

$doc->getElementsByTagName("title")->item(0)->nodeValue = $titleText;
$doc->getElementsByTagName("description")->item(0)->nodeValue = $descriptionText;
$doc->getElementsByTagName("link")->item(0)->nodeValue = $linkText;

This overwrites the existing content with the new value.

answered May 14, 2011 at 12:50

lonesomeday

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1 Comment

doub1ejack Over a year ago

But won't this fail if there is a non xml-safe character in these strings? I assumed that is why the OP is using createTextNode().

Giacomo1968 · Accepted Answer · 2019-11-15 01:27:06Z

11

as doub1ejack mentioned

$doc->getElementsByTagName("title")->item(0)->nodeValue = $titleText;

will give error if $titleText = "& is not allowed in Node::nodeValue";

So the better solution would be

// clear the existing text content
$doc->getElementsByTagName("title")->item(0)->nodeValue = "";

// then create new TextNode
$doc->getElementsByTagName("title")->item(0)->appendChild($doc->createTextNode($titleText));

edited Nov 15, 2019 at 1:27

Giacomo1968

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answered Mar 27, 2015 at 4:03

Raaghu

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1 Comment

patrick Over a year ago

this clears an old node and adds another one, leaving two nodes. It's better to create the new node and use it to replace the old one

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