query xpath with php

Question

I wrote following php code to extract nodes information from this xml:

<sioctBoardPost rdfabout="http//boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=67075">
  <rdftype rdfresource="http//rdfs.org/sioc/ns#Post" />
  <dctitle>hib team</dctitle>
  <siochas_creator>
    <siocUser rdfabout="http//boards.ie/vbulletin/member.php?u=497#user">
      <rdfsseeAlso rdfresource="http//boards.ie/vbulletin/sioc.php?sioc_type=user&amp;sioc_id=497" />
    </siocUser>
  </siochas_creator>
  <dctermscreated>1998-04-25T213200Z</dctermscreated>
  <sioccontent>zero, those players that are trialing 300 -400 pingers? umm..mager lagg and even worse/</sioccontent>
</sioctBoardPost>

<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file("boards.xml");
$products[0] = $xml->xpath("/sioctBoardPost/sioccontent");
$products[1] = $xml->xpath("/sioctBoardPost/dctermscreated");
$products[2] = $xml->xpath("/sioctBoardPost/@rdfabout");
print_r($products);
  ?>

This gives following output:

Array ( 
[0] => Array ( [0] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [0] => zero, those players that are trialing for hib team, (hpb's) most of them are like 300 -400 pingers? umm..mager lagg and even worse when they play on uk server's i bet/ ) ) [1] => Array ( [0] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [0] => 1998-04-25T213200Z ) ) [2] => Array ( [0] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [@attributes] => Array ( [rdfabout] => http//boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=67075 ) ) ) 
)

But I need only nodes content as an output i.e without Array([0] => Array etc.

Output should be like this:

zero, those players that are trialing for hib team, (hpb's) most of them are like 300 -400 pingers? umm..mager lagg and even worse when they play on uk server's i bet

1998-04-25T213200Z

http//boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=67075

Thanks in advance

<sioctBoardPost rdfabout="http//boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=67075"> <rdftype rdfresource="http//rdfs.org/sioc/ns#Post" /> <dctitle>hib team</dctitle> <siochas_creator> <siocUser rdfabout="http//boards.ie/vbulletin/member.php?u=497#user"> <rdfsseeAlso rdfresource="http//boards.ie/vbulletin/sioc.php?sioc_type=user&sioc_id=497"/> </siocUser> </siochas_creator> <dctermscreated>1998-04-25T213200Z</dctermscreated> <sioccontent>zero, those players that are trialing 300 -400 pingers? umm..mager lagg and even worse/</sioccontent> </sioctBoardPost> — Muhammad Shahzad Faisal
– Muhammad Shahzad Faisal, Commented Jan 17, 2013 at 8:02

Ja͢ck · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-17 08:04:51Z

1

You can use current() to only get the first element of each XPath result (which is an array) and then use a (string) cast to get the node contents:

$products[0] = (string)current($xml->xpath("/sioctBoardPost/sioccontent"));
$products[1] = (string)current($xml->xpath("/sioctBoardPost/dctermscreated"));
$products[2] = (string)current($xml->xpath("/sioctBoardPost/@rdfabout"));
print_r($products);

edited Jan 17, 2013 at 8:04

answered Jan 17, 2013 at 6:01

Ja͢ck

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5 Comments

Muhammad Shahzad Faisal Over a year ago

Thanks for suggestion and you code return following output: Array ( [0] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [0] => hib team ) [1] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [0] => zero, those players that are trialing for hib team, (hpb's) most of them are like 300 -400 pingers? umm..mager lagg and even worse when they play on uk server's i bet/ ) [2] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [0] => 1998-04-25T213200Z ) [3] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [@attributes] => Array ( [rdfabout] => http//boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=67075 ) ) ) but I dont want the word SimpleXMLElement Object in output.

Ja͢ck Over a year ago

@MuhammadShahzadFaisal You may need an additional (string) cast.

Muhammad Shahzad Faisal Over a year ago

Actually I dont know how to apply (string) cast on this, kindly help me how to do that.

Ja͢ck Over a year ago

@MuhammadShahzadFaisal I've shown you in my updated answer, please check.

Ja͢ck Over a year ago

@MuhammadShahzadFaisal Cool, if all is well, please consider to accept this answer by clicking the checkmark next to it. Thanks!

JLRishe · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-17 05:53:02Z

0

As you have observed, the xpath() method returns an array of matched nodes, so you need to deal with the elements of the returned arrays. I believe this should work in this case:

$xml = simplexml_load_file("boards.xml");
$products[0] = $xml->xpath("/sioctBoardPost/sioccontent")[0];
$products[1] = $xml->xpath("/sioctBoardPost/dctermscreated")[0];
$products[2] = $xml->xpath("/sioctBoardPost/@rdfabout")[0];
print_r($products);

answered Jan 17, 2013 at 5:53

JLRishe

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3 Comments

Muhammad Shahzad Faisal Over a year ago

But I have 5.3.5 and above code give following error: Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '[' in C:\wamp\www\temptry.php on line 10

JLRishe Over a year ago

Could you provide your XML above in your question?

Muhammad Shahzad Faisal Over a year ago

<sioctBoardPost rdfabout="http//boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=67075"> <rdftype rdfresource="http//rdfs.org/sioc/ns#Post" /> <dctitle>hib team</dctitle> <siochas_creator> <siocUser rdfabout="http//boards.ie/vbulletin/member.php?u=497#user"> <rdfsseeAlso rdfresource="http//boards.ie/vbulletin/sioc.php?sioc_type=user&sioc_id=497"/‌> </siocUser> </siochas_creator> <dctermscreated>1998-04-25T213200Z</dctermscreated> <sioccontent>zero, those players that are trialing 300 -400 pingers? umm..mager lagg and even worse/</sioccontent> </sioctBoardPost>

Ian Atkin · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-17 06:06:50Z

0

This should get you what you need...

foreach ($products as $product) { // iterate through the $products array
    print $product[0]->nodeValue  // output the node value of the SimpleXMLElement Object
}

answered Jan 17, 2013 at 6:06

Ian Atkin

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1 Comment

Muhammad Shahzad Faisal Over a year ago

Thank you for suggestion but it does not show any thing as output, a blank screen appears

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