PHP | simplexml_load_file() Function

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The simplexml_load_file() function is an inbuilt function in PHP which is used to convert the well-formed XML document into the given file to an object.

Syntax:

SimpleXMLElement simplexml_load_file( string $filename, string $class_name = "SimpleXMLElement",
                                    int $options = 0, string $ns = "", bool $is_prefix = FALSE )

Parameters: This function accepts five parameters as mentioned above and described below:

$filename: This parameter holds the path of filename.
$class_name: It is optional parameter. Use of simplexml_load_file() function return the object of specified class. That class extends the SimpleXMLElement class.
$options: It is optional parameter and used for additional Libxml parameter.
$ns: This parameter holds the Namespace prefix or URI.
$is_prefix: This parameter is set to TRUE if ns is a prefix and FALSE if it is URI. Its default value is FALSE.

Return Value: This function returns an object of SimpleXMLElement class with properties containing the data held within the XML document, or FALSE on failure.

Below program illustrates the simplexml_load_file() function in PHP:

gfg.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0"?> 
<organization> 
    <name>zambiatek</name> 
    <address>Noida India</address> 
    <contact> 
        <email>abc@zambiatek.com</email> 
        <mobile>+91-987654321</mobile> 
    </contact> 
</organization> 

Program:

<?php 
  
// Check file exist or not 
if (file_exists('gfg.xml')) { 
      
    // If XML file exists then 
    // load the XML file 
    $xml_file = simplexml_load_file('gfg.xml'); 
   
    // Display the content of XML file 
    var_dump($xml_file); 
      
} else { 
      
    exit('Fail to open the file'); 
} 
?> 

Output:

object(SimpleXMLElement)#1 (3) { 
    ["name"]=> string(13) "zambiatek" 
    ["address"]=> string(11) "Noida India" 
    ["contact"]=> object(SimpleXMLElement)#2 (2) {
        ["email"]=> string(21) "abc@zambiatek.com" 
        ["mobile"]=> string(13) "+91-987654321" 
    }
}

Reference: https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.simplexml-load-file.php