How to convert xml into array in php?

Question

I want to convert below XML to PHP array. Any suggestions on how I can do this?

Answer 1

$array = json_decode(json_encode((array)simplexml_load_string($xml)),true);

Answer 2

Another option is the SimpleXML extension (I believe it comes standard with most php installs.)

http://php.net/manual/en/book.simplexml.php

The syntax looks something like this for your example

$xml = new SimpleXMLElement($xmlString);
echo $xml->bbb->cccc->ffffdd['Id'];
echo $xml->bbb->cccc->eeee['name'];
// or...........
foreach ($xml->bbb->cccc as $element) {
  foreach($element as $key => $val) {
   echo "{$key}: {$val}";
  }
}

Answer 3

The method used in the accepted answer drop attributes when encountering child elements with only a text node. For example:

$xml = '<container><element attribute="123">abcd</element></container>';
print_r(json_decode(json_encode(simplexml_load_string($xml, "SimpleXMLElement", LIBXML_NOCDATA)),1));

Array
(
    [element] => abcd
)

My solution (and I wish I could give credit here because I'm sure I adapted this from something):

function XMLtoArray($xml) {
    $previous_value = libxml_use_internal_errors(true);
    $dom = new DOMDocument('1.0', 'UTF-8');
    $dom->preserveWhiteSpace = false; 
    $dom->loadXml($xml);
    libxml_use_internal_errors($previous_value);
    if (libxml_get_errors()) {
        return [];
    }
    return DOMtoArray($dom);
}

function DOMtoArray($root) {
    $result = array();

    if ($root->hasAttributes()) {
        $attrs = $root->attributes;
        foreach ($attrs as $attr) {
            $result['@attributes'][$attr->name] = $attr->value;
        }
    }

    if ($root->hasChildNodes()) {
        $children = $root->childNodes;
        if ($children->length == 1) {
            $child = $children->item(0);
            if (in_array($child->nodeType,[XML_TEXT_NODE,XML_CDATA_SECTION_NODE])) {
                $result['_value'] = $child->nodeValue;
                return count($result) == 1
                    ? $result['_value']
                    : $result;
            }

        }
        $groups = array();
        foreach ($children as $child) {
            if (!isset($result[$child->nodeName])) {
                $result[$child->nodeName] = DOMtoArray($child);
            } else {
                if (!isset($groups[$child->nodeName])) {
                    $result[$child->nodeName] = array($result[$child->nodeName]);
                    $groups[$child->nodeName] = 1;
                }
                $result[$child->nodeName][] = DOMtoArray($child);
            }
        }
    }
    return $result;
}

$xml = '
    <aaaa Version="1.0">
       <bbb>
         <cccc>
           <ffffdd id="123" />
           <eeee name="john" age="24" />
           <ffff type="employee">Supervisor</ffff>
         </cccc>
       </bbb>
    </aaaa>
';
print_r(XMLtoArray($xml));

Array
(
    [aaaa] => Array
        (
            [@attributes] => Array
                (
                    [Version] => 1.0
                )

            [bbb] => Array
                (
                    [cccc] => Array
                        (
                            [ffffdd] => Array
                                (
                                    [@attributes] => Array
                                        (
                                            [id] => 123
                                        )

                                )

                            [eeee] => Array
                                (
                                    [@attributes] => Array
                                        (
                                            [name] => john
                                            [age] => 24
                                        )

                                )

                            [ffff] => Array
                                (
                                    [@attributes] => Array
                                        (
                                            [type] => employee
                                        )

                                    [_value] => Supervisor
                                )

                        )

                )

        )

)