add empty child to xml using php

Question

The basic situation is that I am writing a xml file and there I need an attribute named as and there will no value in that attribute, so shows up as whereas I want

The code is as below, this is the basic example given in php.net

<?php

include 'example.php';

$sxe = new SimpleXMLElement($xmlstr);
$sxe->addAttribute('type', 'documentary');

$movie = $sxe->addChild('movie');
$movie->addChild('title', 'PHP2: More Parser Stories');
$movie->addChild('plot', 'This is all about the people who make it work.');

$characters = $movie->addChild('characters');
$character  = $characters->addChild('character');
$character->addChild('name', 'Mr. Parser');
$character->addChild('actor', 'John Doe');

$rating = $movie->addChild('rating', '5');
$rating->addAttribute('type', 'stars');

$movie->addChild('test');

echo $sxe->asXML();

?>

The result of this is

        <?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<movies type="documentary">
 <movie>
  <title>PHP: Behind the Parser</title>
  <characters>
   <character>
    <name>Ms. Coder</name>
    <actor>Onlivia Actora</actor>
   </character>
   <character>
    <name>Mr. Coder</name>
    <actor>El Act&#xD3;r</actor>
   </character>
  </characters>
  <plot>
   So, this language. It's like, a programming language. Or is it a
   scripting language? All is revealed in this thrilling horror spoof
   of a documentary.
  </plot>
  <great-lines>
   <line>PHP solves all my web problems</line>
  </great-lines>
  <rating type="thumbs">7</rating>
  <rating type="stars">5</rating>
 </movie>
<movie><title>PHP2: More Parser Stories</title><plot>This is all about the people who make it work.</plot><characters><character><name>Mr. Parser</name><actor>John Doe</actor></character></characters><rating type="stars">5</rating><test/></movie></movies>

But I need it to be

        <?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<movies type="documentary">
 <movie>
  <title>PHP: Behind the Parser</title>
  <characters>
   <character>
    <name>Ms. Coder</name>
    <actor>Onlivia Actora</actor>
   </character>
   <character>
    <name>Mr. Coder</name>
    <actor>El Act&#xD3;r</actor>
   </character>
  </characters>
  <plot>
   So, this language. It's like, a programming language. Or is it a
   scripting language? All is revealed in this thrilling horror spoof
   of a documentary.
  </plot>
  <great-lines>
   <line>PHP solves all my web problems</line>
  </great-lines>
  <rating type="thumbs">7</rating>
  <rating type="stars">5</rating>
 </movie>
<movie><title>PHP2: More Parser Stories</title><plot>This is all about the people who make it work.</plot><characters><character><name>Mr. Parser</name><actor>John Doe</actor></character></characters><rating type="stars">5</rating>**<test></test>**</movie></movies>

I have seen many other questions but they are using DomDocument, I am new to xml so unable to figure out how I can do the same in my code. The references that I have seen are question 1

question 2

I am totally stuck !!

Answer 1

If you really need an empty node like <node></node> do this:

 $child = $sxe->addChild('test');
 $child[0] = '';

Now the node is empty but shows up like <text></text>;

 print htmlentities($sxe->asXML());