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SimpleXMLElement::__toString

(PHP 5 >= 5.3.0, PHP 7, PHP 8)

SimpleXMLElement::__toStringReturns the string content

Description

public SimpleXMLElement::__toString(): string

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

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User Contributed Notes 3 notes

up
14
mmj at example dot net
6 years ago
__toString() is not intended to be called directly.

Instead, it defines what is returned when the object is cast to string, either explicitly with:

(string)$element

Or implicitly, when used in certain contexts which would cause a conversion to string.
up
11
Patanjali
7 years 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.
up
-30
Patanjali
7 years 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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