PHP 7.0.6 Released

    SimpleXMLElement::__toString

    (No version information available, might only be in Git)

    SimpleXMLElement::__toString — Returns the string content

    Description

    public string SimpleXMLElement::__toString ( void )

    Returns text content that is directly in this element. Does not return text content that is inside this element's children.

    Parameters

    This function has no parameters.

    Return Values

    Returns the string content on success or an empty string on failure.

    Examples

    Example #1 Get string content

    <?php
    $xml     = new SimpleXMLElement('<a>1 <b>2 </b>3</a>');
    echo     $xml;
    ?>

    The above example will output:

    1 3

    See Also

    User Contributed Notes

    Patanjali
    1 month ago
    [Someone remove that other Patanjali's note, because it has errors! :-(]

    For those for whom it may not be immediately obvious from the example, the echo is what is forcing __toString() to be used.

    However, to assign the text of a node (but not its children) to a variable:

    $XML = new SimpleXMLElement('<p>Hello<span> world</span>.<span> Good day!</span></p>');

    $Text = $XML->__toString();

    is effectively:
    $Text = 'Hello.'; // The <span>s are ignored.

    Either of:
    $Text = $XML->span->__toString();
    $Text = $XML->span[0]->__toString();

    is effectively:
    $Text = ' world'; // Only the first <span> is used.

    $Text = $XML->span[1]->__toString();

    is effectively:
    $Text = ' Good day!'; // Only the second <span> is used.
    Patanjali
    1 month ago
    For those for whom it may not be immediately obvious from the example, to assign the text of a node (but not its children) to a variable:

    $XML = new SimpleXMLElement('<p>Hello<span> world</span>.<span> Good day!</span></p>');

    Either:
    $Text = $XML;
    $Text = $XML->__String();

    is effectively:
    $Text = 'Hello.'; // The <span>s are ignored.

    Either of:
    $Text = $XML->span;
    $Text = $XML->span[0];

    is effectively:
    $Text = ' world'; // Only the first <span> is used.

    $Text = $XML->span[1];

    is effectively:
    $Text = ' Good day!'; // Only the second <span> is used.
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