PHP | SimpleXMLElement children() Function

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Pre-requisite: Read XML Basics
The SimpleXMLElement::children() function is an inbuilt function in PHP which returns children of a given node in a SimpleXML object.

Syntax:

SimpleXMLElement SimpleXMLElement::children( $namespace, $is_prefix )

Parameter: This function accepts two parameters as mentioned above and described below:

$namespace: It is optional parameter. It specifies the XML namespace.
$is_prefix: It is boolean parameter which is optional. It is True if $namespace is a prefix and False if $namespace is namespace URL. Its default value is False.

Return Value: This function returns a SimpleXMLElement object.
Note: This function is available on PHP 5.0.1 and newer version.
Below programs illustrate the SimpleXMLElement::children() function in PHP:
Program 1: This program displays the value of child node.

php

<?php
 
// Loading XML document to $user
$user = <<<XML
<user>
    <username>Geeks123</username>
    <name>zambiatek</name>
    <phone>+91-XXXXXXXXXX</phone>
    <address> 
        Noida, UP, India 
    </address>
</user>
XML;
 
// Loading string as simple xml object
$xml = simplexml_load_string($user);
 
// Print children node
foreach($xml->children() as $child) {
    echo "Child node: " . $child . "</br>";
}
 
?>

Output:

Child node: Geeks123
Child node: zambiatek
Child node: +91-XXXXXXXXXX
Child node: Noida, UP, India

Program 2: This program displays the tag name and its value.

php

<?php
 
// Loading XML document to $user
$user = <<<XML
<user>
    <username>Geeks123</username>
    <name>zambiatek</name>
    <phone>+91-XXXXXXXXXX</phone>
    <address> 
        Noida, UP, India 
    </address>
</user>
XML;
 
// Loading string as simple xml object
$xml = simplexml_load_string($user);
 
// Print children node
foreach($xml->children() as $child) {
    echo "Child node: " . $child->getName()
            . " => " . $child . "</br>";
}
 
?>

Output:

Child node: username => Geeks123
Child node: name => zambiatek
Child node: phone => +91-XXXXXXXXXX
Child node: address => Noida, UP, India

Program 3: This program retrieving the children attribute name with its value.

php

<?php
 
// Loading XML document to $user
$user = <<<XML
<user>
    <username font-color="green"
            font="awesome-fonts" font-size="72px">
        Geeks123
    </username>
     
    <name font-color="blue" font="awesome-fonts"
            font-size="36px">
        zambiatek
    </name>
     
    <phone font-color="blue" type="number"
            font="awesome-fonts" font-size="24px">
        +91-XXXXXXXXXX
    </phone>
     
    <address font-color="blue" font="awesome-fonts"
            font-size="24px"> 
        Noida, UP, India 
    </address>
</user>
XML;
 
// Loading string as simple xml object
$xml = simplexml_load_string($user);
 
// Print children attribute
foreach($xml->children() as $child) {
    echo "Child name: " . $child->getName()
            . " =>" . $child . "<br>";
     
    foreach($child->attributes() as $key => $value)
        echo "      parameter: "
                . $key . " => " . $value . "</br>";
}
 
?>

Output:

Child name: username => Geeks123 
     parameter: font-color => green
     parameter: font => awesome-fonts
     parameter: font-size => 72px
Child name: name => zambiatek 
     parameter: font-color => blue
     parameter: font => awesome-fonts
     parameter: font-size => 36px
Child name: phone => +91-XXXXXXXXXX 
     parameter: font-color => blue
     parameter: type => number
     parameter: font => awesome-fonts
     parameter: font-size => 24px
Child name: address => Noida, UP, India 
     parameter: font-color => blue
     parameter: font => awesome-fonts
     parameter: font-size => 24px

Reference: https://www.php.net/manual/en/simplexmlelement.children.php