PHP XML Tree Reference

How it works

Both APIs still need bounded input and a controlled parser configuration. Accessor convenience does not validate required fields or make an external entity safe. SimpleXML nodes often need explicit scalar conversion; DOM/XPath needs deliberate namespace handling. Keep parser diagnostics private and restore global libxml error-state choices after a scoped import.

Run it locally

Run this complete source locally with PHP 8.2 or newer. Save it using the filename shown and run the command below. PHP is not currently available in Bhylu’s browser playground. Apache and MySQL are not needed for an ordinary CLI example.

php -l ref-xml-tree.php
php ref-xml-tree.php

Download this source as a local PHP lab file. Keep lab files separate from the Bhylu project and production data.

Example

<?php
declare(strict_types=1);

$xml = new SimpleXMLElement("<items><item>Rake</item></items>");
echo (string)$xml->item, "\n";
$document = dom_import_simplexml($xml);
echo $document->nodeName, "\n";

Expected result

Rake
items

The same controlled tree is observed through two interfaces. Importing into DOM does not transform untrusted XML into approved application data. The example contains no DTD, network resource or unbounded external document, so those additional production parser decisions remain explicit rather than silently exercised.

Contracts to check

Related API names

This alphabetic inventory helps locate related calls. Availability was checked in the review runtime; it is not a recommendation to use every API or a claim that every overload/function was executed. Read the official entry for version, extension, failure and security details.