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phpxmlsimplexml

Forcing a SimpleXML Object to a string, regardless of context

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?

Solution

  • 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.