PHP simplexml_load_string() Function

The simplexml_load_string() function converts a well-formed XML string into a SimpleXMLElement object.

SimpleXMLElement simplexml_load_string ( string $data [, string $class_name = "SimpleXMLElement" [, int $options = 0 [, string $ns = "" [, bool $is_prefix = FALSE ]]]] )

Takes a well-formed XML string and returns it as an object.

Example -

Example #1 Interpret an XML string

The above example will output:

SimpleXMLElement Object
(
  [title] => Forty What?
  [from] => Joe
  [to] => Jane
  [body] =>
   I know that's the answer -- but what's the question?
)

At this point, you can go about using $xml->body and such.

Parameter	Description
data	Required. Specifies a well-formed XML string
class_name	You may use this optional parameter so that simplexml_load_string() will return an object of the specified class. That class should extend the SimpleXMLElement class.
options	Since PHP 5.1.0 and Libxml 2.6.0, you may also use the options parameter to specify additional Libxml parameters.
ns	Optional. Specifies a namespace prefix or URI
is_prefix	TRUE if ns is a prefix, FALSE if it's a URI; defaults to FALSE.

Returns an object of class SimpleXMLElement with properties containing the data held within the xml document, or FALSE on failure.

This function may return Boolean FALSE, but may also return a non-Boolean value which evaluates to FALSE. Please read the section on Booleans for more information. Use the === operator for testing the return value of this function.