SimpleXMLElement::attributes

(PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

SimpleXMLElement::attributesIdentifies an element's attributes

Description

public SimpleXMLElement::attributes(?string $namespaceOrPrefix = null, bool $isPrefix = false): ?SimpleXMLElement

This function provides the attributes and values defined within an xml tag.

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.

Parameters

namespaceOrPrefix

An optional namespace for the retrieved attributes

isPrefix

Default to false

Return Values

Returns a SimpleXMLElement object that can be iterated over to loop through the attributes on the tag.

Returns null if called on a SimpleXMLElement object that already represents an attribute and not a tag.

Examples

Example #1 Interpret an XML string

<?php
$string
= <<<XML
<a>
<foo name="one" game="lonely">1</foo>
</a>
XML;

$xml = simplexml_load_string($string);
foreach(
$xml->foo[0]->attributes() as $a => $b) {
echo
$a,'="',$b,"\"\n";
}
?>

The above example will output:

name="one"
game="lonely"

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User Contributed Notes 6 notes

up
46
Xeoncross
14 years ago
It is really simple to access attributes using array form. However, you must convert them to strings or ints if you plan on passing the values to functions.

<?php
SimpleXMLElement Object
(
[@
attributes] => Array
(
[
id] => 55555
)

[
text] => "hello world"
)
?>

Then using a function

<?php
function xml_attribute($object, $attribute)
{
if(isset(
$object[$attribute]))
return (string)
$object[$attribute];
}
?>

I can get the "id" like this

<?php
print xml_attribute($xml, 'id'); //prints "55555"
?>
up
28
chris at chlab dot ch
12 years ago
Note that you must provide the namespace if you want to access an attribute of a non-default namespace:

Consider the following example:

<?php
$xml
= <<<XML
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Workbook xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet"
xmlns:ss="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet">
<Table Foo="Bar" ss:ExpandedColumnCount="7">
</Table>
</Workbook>
XML;

$sxml = new SimpleXMLElement($xml);

/**
* Access attribute of default namespace
*/
var_dump((string) $sxml->Table[0]['Foo']);
// outputs: 'Bar'

/**
* Access attribute of non-default namespace
*/
var_dump((int) $sxml->Table[0]['ExpandedColumnCount']);
// outputs: 0

var_dump((int) $sxml->Table[0]->attributes('ss', TRUE)->ExpandedColumnCount);
// outputs: '7'
?>
up
28
sarlak
13 years ago
<?php
$att
= 'attribueName';

// You can access an element's attribute just like this :
$attribute = $element->attributes()->$att;

// This will save the value of the attribute, and not the objet
$attribute = (string)$element->attributes()->$att;

// You also can edit it this way :
$element->attributes()->$att = 'New value of the attribute';
?>
up
15
totalwipeout at gmail dot com
12 years ago
Tip to get a real array of all attributes of a node (not SimpleXML's object acting like an array)

<?php
//- $node is a SimpleXMLElement object

$atts_object = $node->attributes(); //- get all attributes, this is not a real array
$atts_array = (array) $atts_object; //- typecast to an array

//- grab the value of '@attributes' key, which contains the array your after
$atts_array = $atts_array['@attributes'];

var_dump($atts_object); //- outputs object(SimpleXMLElement)[19]
//- public '@attributes' => ...

var_dump($atts_array); //- outputs array (size=11) ...

?>
Hope this helps!
up
2
andy dot locologic+101 at gmail dot com
9 years ago
Easiest and safest way to get attributes as an array is to use the iterator_to_array function (see http://php.net/manual/en/function.iterator-to-array.php):

<?php
$x
= new SimpleXMLElement('<div class="myclass" id="myid"/>');
$attributes = iterator_to_array($x->attributes());
?>
up
2
webfelipemaia at gmail dot com
11 years ago
Use attributes to display when it meets certain condition defined attribute / value in xml tags.

Use atributos para exibir quando atende determinada condição definida atributo / valor em tags XML.

Consider the following example:
Considere o seguinte exemplo:

(file.xml)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<list>
<item type="Language">
<name>PHP</name>
<link>www.php.net</link>
</item>
<item type="Database">
<name>Java</name>
<link>www.oracle.com/br/technologies/java/‎</link>
</item>
</list>

Checks if the attribute value equals "Language", if equal prints everything that is related to "Language".

Verifica se o valor do atributo é igual a "Language", se for, imprime tudo o que for relativo ao mesmo.

<?php

$xml
= simplexml_load_file("file.xml");

foreach(
$xml->children() as $child) {

$role = $child->attributes();

foreach(
$child as $key => $value) {

if(
$role == "Language")
echo(
"[".$key ."] ".$value . "<br />");

}
}
?>

output:
saída:

[name] PHP
[link] www.php.net
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