(PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)
SimpleXMLElement::children — Finds children of given node
$namespaceOrPrefix
= null
, bool $isPrefix
= false
): ?SimpleXMLElementThis method finds the children of an element. The result follows normal iteration rules.
Note: SimpleXML has made a rule of adding iterative properties to most methods. They cannot be viewed using var_dump() or anything else which can examine objects.
namespaceOrPrefix
An XML namespace.
isPrefix
If isPrefix
is true
,
namespaceOrPrefix
will be regarded as a prefix. If false
,
namespaceOrPrefix
will be regarded as a namespace
URL.
Returns a SimpleXMLElement element, whether the node
has children or not, unless the node represents an attribute, in which case
null
is returned.
Example #1 Traversing a children()
pseudo-array
<?php$xml = new SimpleXMLElement('<person> <child role="son"> <child role="daughter"/> </child> <child role="daughter"> <child role="son"> <child role="son"/> </child> </child></person>');foreach ($xml->children() as $second_gen) { echo ' The person begot a ' . $second_gen['role']; foreach ($second_gen->children() as $third_gen) { echo ' who begot a ' . $third_gen['role'] . ';'; foreach ($third_gen->children() as $fourth_gen) { echo ' and that ' . $third_gen['role'] . ' begot a ' . $fourth_gen['role']; } }}?>
The above example will output:
The person begot a son who begot a daughter; The person begot a daughter who begot a son; and that son begot a son
Example #2 Using namespaces
<?php$xml = '<example xmlns:foo="my.foo.urn"> <foo:a>Apple</foo:a> <foo:b>Banana</foo:b> <c>Cherry</c></example>';$sxe = new SimpleXMLElement($xml);$kids = $sxe->children('foo');var_dump(count($kids));$kids = $sxe->children('foo', TRUE);var_dump(count($kids));$kids = $sxe->children('my.foo.urn');var_dump(count($kids));$kids = $sxe->children('my.foo.urn', TRUE);var_dump(count($kids));$kids = $sxe->children();var_dump(count($kids));?>
int(0) int(2) int(2) int(0) int(1)