php foreach with a variable

Question

I'm trying to use a variable in a foreach loop (with simplexml) but am confused as to how to get it work properly.

My variable is:

$path="channel->item";

And I want my foreach to look like:

foreach ($xml->".$path." as $newsItem)

But that doesn't work - like the $path is being echo as $path rather than it's contents.

if I do:

foreach ($xml->channel->item as $newsItem) 

It works fine.
I'm sure it's just a syntax issue but I can't figure it out. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You can't include pointers in the variable variable.

$members = explode('->', $path);
foreach($xml->{$members[0]}->{$members[1]} as $v) {

}

This will only work if your path stays two dimensional.
[edit] If you do need it to work recursively you can use this. Sorry took me a minute to write it:

function pathFinder($path, $obj) {
    $members = explode('->', $path);

    if(is_object($obj) && count($members) && property_exists($obj, $members[0])) {
        $nextMember = $members[0];
        array_shift($members);
        return pathFinder(implode('->', $members), $obj->{$nextMember});
    } else {
        return $obj;
    }
}

$xml = new stdClass;
$xml->channel->item[] = 'love';
$xml->channel->item[] = 'test';

$path = 'channel->item';
$array = pathFinder($path, $xml);
print_r($array);

output:

Array(
    [0] => love
    [1] => test
)