Forcing a SimpleXML Object to a string, regardless of context

Question

Let's say I have some XML like this

<channel>
  <item>
    <title>This is title 1</title>
  </item>
</channel>

The code below does what I want in that it outputs the title as a string

$xml = simplexml_load_string($xmlstring);
echo $xml->channel->item->title;

Here's my problem. The code below doesn't treat the title as a string in that context so I end up with a SimpleXML object in the array instead of a string.

$foo = array( $xml->channel->item->title );

I've been working around it like this

$foo = array( sprintf("%s",$xml->channel->item->title) );

but that seems ugly.

What's the best way to force a SimpleXML object to a string, regardless of context?

Answer 1

Typecast the SimpleXMLObject to a string:

$foo = array( (string) $xml->channel->item->title );

The above code internally calls __toString() on the SimpleXMLObject. This method is not publicly available, as it interferes with the mapping scheme of the SimpleXMLObject, but it can still be invoked in the above manner.

Answer 2

I agree with Aron. Type-casting using (string) will do the trick. I had the very same problem a few months ago.

May I suggest you use DOMDocument to read XML in PHP. SimpleXML is fun to start with, but you soon find its limits.

DOMDocument is what is used underneath SimpleXML.

Answer 3

You can use the PHP function

strval();

This function returns the string values of the parameter passed to it.