PHP for loop just displays 1 element

Question

I try to use PHP for and I'm pretty new to it. I have an xml file stored in a variable called $xmlroot. Here you can see my code:

<?php
    $xmlroot = $_POST['xmldata'];
    //echo "Your data is: " . $xmlroot;

    $doc = new DOMDocument;
    $doc->loadXML($xmlroot);

    for($i = 0; $i < count($xmlroot); $i++){
        echo $doc->getElementsByTagName('postalcode')->item($i)->nodeValue;
    }
?>

But it just displays me the first XML tag. It should display all tags called "postalcode". My XML file looks like this:

<root>
    <code>
        <postalcode>12345</postalcode>
        <name>Test1</name>
    </code>
    <code>
        <postalcode>67890</postalcode>
        <name>Test2</name>
    </code>
    <code>
        <postalcode>13579</postalcode>
        <name>Test3</name>
    </code>
    <code>
        <postalcode>02468</postalcode>
        <name>Test1</name>
    </code>
</root>

It should display 4 elements but it displays just 1. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Amal · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-19 15:51:09Z

6

That is because count($xmlroot) is equal to 1. If you're going to use a for loop, you need to use the length property to retrieve the number of elements.

It's easier with a foreach loop, though:

$xmlroot = file_get_contents('file.html');

$doc = new DOMDocument;
$doc->loadXML($xmlroot);

foreach ($doc->getElementsByTagName('postalcode') as $postalcode) {
    echo $postalcode->nodeValue . '<br/>';
}

Demo.

edited Dec 19, 2013 at 15:51

answered Dec 19, 2013 at 15:44

Amal

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1 Comment

Tyler Over a year ago

Nice! You did it. Thank you very much! First I tried with length property, which doesn't work but then I noticed your edit. Foreach works perfect :) Thanks!

Latheesan · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-19 15:45:35Z

Use simplexml class in php:

e.g.

php

<?php

$xml = simplexml_load_string("<root>
    <code>
        <postalcode>12345</postalcode>
        <name>Test1</name>
    </code>
    <code>
        <postalcode>67890</postalcode>
        <name>Test2</name>
    </code>
    <code>
        <postalcode>13579</postalcode>
        <name>Test3</name>
    </code>
    <code>
        <postalcode>02468</postalcode>
        <name>Test1</name>
    </code>
</root>");

echo "<pre>";
print_r($xml);
echo "</pre>";

?>

Outputs:

SimpleXMLElement Object
(
    [code] => Array
        (
            [0] => SimpleXMLElement Object
                (
                    [postalcode] => 12345
                    [name] => Test1
                )
            [1] => SimpleXMLElement Object
                (
                    [postalcode] => 67890
                    [name] => Test2
                )
            [2] => SimpleXMLElement Object
                (
                    [postalcode] => 13579
                    [name] => Test3
                )
            [3] => SimpleXMLElement Object
                (
                    [postalcode] => 02468
                    [name] => Test1
                )
        )
)

so, to iterate, what you will do is:

foreach ($xml->code as $node)
{
    // Do something with $node - e.g.
    $postalcode = $node->postalcode;

    var_dump($postalcode);
}

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