php SimpleXML check if a child exists

Question

A->b->c might exist but c might not exist. How do I check it?

Answer 1

If you have PHP 5.3, you can just use $a->count(). Otherwise, scippie's solution using @count($a->children()) works well. I find I don't need the @ but older PHP implementations may need it.

Answer 2

The 3 ways I can confirm work in PHP 5.5.23 were using isset() count() or empty()

Here is a script to show the results from each:

https://gist.github.com/mchelen/306f4f31f21c02cb0c24

Answer 3

It might be better to wrap this in an isset()

if(isset($A->b->c)) { // c exists

That way if $A or $A->b don't exist... it doesn't blow up.

Answer 4

Using if(isset($A->b){ gave me issues, so I tried if($A->b){ and it worked!

Answer 5

Thought I'd share my experience. Running on 5.4 I tried testing with 'isset' and 'empty' but neither worked for me. I ended up using is_null.

if(!is_null($xml->scheduler->outterList->innerList)) {
    //do something
}

Answer 6

SimpleXML always return Object. If there is no child, empty object is returned.

if( !empty($a->b)){
  var_dump($a->b);
}