The DOM extension allows you to operate on XML documents through the DOM API with PHP 5.
For PHP 4, use DOM XML.
Note: DOM extension uses UTF-8 encoding. Use utf8_encode() and utf8_decode() to work with texts in ISO-8859-1 encoding or Iconv for other encodings.
There is no installation needed to use these functions; they are part of the PHP core.
The API of the module follows the » DOM Level 3 standard as closely as possible. Consequently, the API is fully object-oriented. It is a good idea to have the DOM standard available when using this module.
This module defines a number of classes, which are explained in the following tables. Classes with an equivalent in the DOM standard are named DOMxxx.
Extends DOMNode. The DOMAttr interface represents an attribute in an DOMElement object.
DOMAttr->__construct() - construct a new DOMAttr object
DOMAttr->isId() - Checks if attribute is a defined ID
| Name | Type | Read-only | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| name | string | yes | The name of the attribute |
| ownerElement | DOMElement | yes | The element which contains the attribute |
| schemaTypeInfo | bool | yes | Not implemented yet, always return NULL |
| specified | bool | yes | Not implemented yet, always return NULL |
| value | string | no | The value of the attribute |
Extends DOMNode.
DOMCharacterData->appendData() - Append a string to the end of the character data of the node
DOMCharacterData->deleteData() - Remove a range of characters from the node
DOMCharacterData->insertData() - Insert a string at the specified 16-bit unit offset
DOMCharacterData->replaceData() - Replace a substring within the DOMCharacterData node
DOMCharacterData->substringData() - Extracts a range of data from the node
| Name | Type | Read-only | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| data | string | no | The contents of the node |
| length | int | yes | The length of the contents |
Extends DOMCharacterData.
DOMComment->__construct() - construct a new DOMComment object
Extends DOMNode.
DOMDocument->__construct() - construct a new DOMDocument object
DOMDocument->createAttribute() - Create new attribute
DOMDocument->createAttributeNS() - Create new attribute node with an associated namespace
DOMDocument->createCDATASection() - Create new cdata node
DOMDocument->createComment() - Create new comment node
DOMDocument->createDocumentFragment() - Create new document fragment
DOMDocument->createElement() - Create new element node
DOMDocument->createElementNS() - Create new element node with an associated namespace
DOMDocument->createEntityReference() - Create new entity reference node
DOMDocument->createProcessingInstruction() - Creates new PI node
DOMDocument->createTextNode() - Create new text node
DOMDocument->getElementById() - Searches for an element with a certain id
DOMDocument->getElementsByTagName() - Searches for all elements with given tag name
DOMDocument->getElementsByTagNameNS() - Searches for all elements with given tag name in specified namespace
DOMDocument->importNode() - Import node into current document
DOMDocument->load() - Load XML from a file
DOMDocument->loadHTML() - Load HTML from a string
DOMDocument->loadHTMLFile() - Load HTML from a file
DOMDocument->loadXML() - Load XML from a string
DOMDocument->normalizeDocument() - Normalizes the document
DOMDocument->relaxNGValidate() - Performs relaxNG validation on the document
DOMDocument->relaxNGValidateSource() - Performs relaxNG validation on the document
DOMDocument->registerNodeClass() - Register extended class used to create base node type (not DOM standard)
DOMDocument->save() - Dumps the internal XML tree back into a file
DOMDocument->saveHTML() - Dumps the internal document into a string using HTML formatting
DOMDocument->saveHTMLFile() - Dumps the internal document back into a file using HTML formatting
DOMDocument->saveXML() - Dumps the internal XML tree back into a string
DOMDocument->schemaValidate() - Validates a document based on a schema
DOMDocument->schemaValidateSource() - Validates a document based on a schema
DOMDocument->validate() - Validates the document based on its DTD
DOMDocument->xinclude() - Substitutes XIncludes in a DOMDocument Object
| Name | Type | Read-only | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| actualEncoding | string | yes | |
| config | DOMConfiguration | yes | |
| doctype | DOMDocumentType | yes | The Document Type Declaration associated with this document. |
| documentElement | DOMElement | yes | This is a convenience attribute that allows direct access to the child node that is the document element of the document. |
| documentURI | string | no | The location of the document or NULL if undefined. |
| encoding | string | no | |
| formatOutput | bool | no | |
| implementation | DOMImplementation | yes | The DOMImplementation object that handles this document. |
| preserveWhiteSpace | bool | no | Do not remove redundant white space. Default to TRUE. |
| recover | bool | no | |
| resolveExternals | bool | no | Set it to TRUE to load external entities from a doctype declaration. This is useful for including character entities in your XML document. |
| standalone | bool | no | |
| strictErrorChecking | bool | no | Throws DOMException on errors. Default to TRUE. |
| substituteEntities | bool | no | |
| validateOnParse | bool | no | Loads and validates against the DTD. Default to FALSE. |
| version | string | no | |
| xmlEncoding | string | yes | An attribute specifying, as part of the XML declaration, the encoding of this document. This is NULL when unspecified or when it is not known, such as when the Document was created in memory. |
| xmlStandalone | bool | no | An attribute specifying, as part of the XML declaration, whether this document is standalone. This is FALSE when unspecified. |
| xmlVersion | string | no | An attribute specifying, as part of the XML declaration, the version number of this document. If there is no declaration and if this document supports the "XML" feature, the value is "1.0". |
Extends DOMNode.
DOMDocumentFragment->appendXML() - Append raw XML data (not DOM standard)
Extends DOMNode
Each DOMDocument has a doctype attribute whose value is either NULL or a DOMDocumentType object.
| Name | Type | Read-only | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| publicId | string | yes | The public identifier of the external subset. |
| systemId | string | yes | The system identifier of the external subset. This may be an absolute URI or not. |
| name | string | yes | The name of DTD; i.e., the name immediately following the DOCTYPE keyword. |
| entities | DOMNamedNodeMap | yes | A DOMNamedNodeMap containing the general entities, both external and internal, declared in the DTD. |
| notations | DOMNamedNodeMap | yes | A DOMNamedNodeMap containing the notations declared in the DTD. |
| internalSubset | string | yes | The internal subset as a string, or null if there is none. This is does not contain the delimiting square brackets. |
Extends DOMNode.
DOMElement->__construct() - construct a new DOMElement object
DOMElement->getAttribute() - Returns value of attribute
DOMElement->getAttributeNode() - Returns attribute node
DOMElement->getAttributeNodeNS() - Returns attribute node
DOMElement->getAttributeNS() - Returns value of attribute
DOMElement->getElementsByTagName() - Gets elements by tagname
DOMElement->getElementsByTagNameNS() - Get elements by namespaceURI and localName
DOMElement->hasAttribute() - Checks to see if attribute exists
DOMElement->hasAttributeNS() - Checks to see if attribute exists
DOMElement->removeAttribute() - Removes attribute
DOMElement->removeAttributeNode() - Removes attribute
DOMElement->removeAttributeNS() - Removes attribute
DOMElement->setAttribute() - Adds new attribute
DOMElement->setAttributeNode() - Adds new attribute node to element
DOMElement->setAttributeNodeNS() - Adds new attribute node to element
DOMElement->setAttributeNS() - Adds new attribute
DOMElement->setIdAttribute() - Declares the ID attribute
DOMElement->setIdAttributeNode() - Declares the ID attribute
DOMElement->setIdAttributeNS() - Declares the ID attribute
| Name | Type | Read-only | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| schemaTypeInfo | bool | yes | Not implemented yet, always return NULL |
| tagName | string | yes | The element name |
Extends DOMNode
This interface represents a known entity, either parsed or unparsed, in an XML document.
| Name | Type | Read-only | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| publicId | string | yes | The public identifier associated with the entity if specified, and NULL otherwise. |
| systemId | string | yes | The system identifier associated with the entity if specified, and NULL otherwise. This may be an absolute URI or not. |
| notationName | string | yes | For unparsed entities, the name of the notation for the entity. For parsed entities, this is NULL. |
| actualEncoding | string | no | An attribute specifying the encoding used for this entity at the time of parsing, when it is an external parsed entity. This is NULL if it an entity from the internal subset or if it is not known. |
| encoding | string | yes | An attribute specifying, as part of the text declaration, the encoding of this entity, when it is an external parsed entity. This is NULL otherwise. |
| version | string | yes | An attribute specifying, as part of the text declaration, the version number of this entity, when it is an external parsed entity. This is NULL otherwise. |
Extends DOMNode.
DOMEntityReference->__construct() - construct a new DOMEntityReference object
DOM operations raise exceptions under particular circumstances, i.e., when an operation is impossible to perform for logical reasons.
See also Exceptions.
| Name | Type | Read-only | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| code | int | yes | An integer indicating the type of error generated |
The DOMImplementation interface provides a number of methods for performing operations that are independent of any particular instance of the document object model.
DOMImplementation->__construct() - construct a new DOMImplementation object
DOMImplementation->createDocument() - Creates a DOM Document object of the specified type with its document element
DOMImplementation->createDocumentType() - Creates an empty DOMDocumentType object
DOMImplementation->hasFeature() - Test if the DOM implementation implements a specific feature
DOMNamedNodeMap->getNamedItem() - Retrieves a node specified by name
DOMNamedNodeMap->getNamedItemNS() - Retrieves a node specified by local name and namespace URI
DOMNamedNodeMap->item() - Retrieves a node specified by index
DOMNode->appendChild() - Adds new child at the end of the children
DOMNode->cloneNode() - Clones a node
DOMNode->hasAttributes() - Checks if node has attributes
DOMNode->hasChildNodes() - Checks if node has children
DOMNode->insertBefore() - Adds a new child before a reference node
DOMNode->isDefaultNamespace() - Checks if the specified namespaceURI is the default namespace
DOMNode->isSameNode() - Indicates if two nodes are the same node
DOMNode->isSupported() - Checks if feature is supported for specified version
DOMNode->lookupNamespaceURI() - Returns namespace URI of the node based on the prefix
DOMNode->lookupPrefix() - Returns name space prefix of the node based on namespaceURI
DOMNode->normalize() - Normalizes the node
DOMNode->removeChild() - Removes child from list of children
DOMNode->replaceChild() - Replaces a child
| Name | Type | Read-only | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| nodeName | string | yes | Returns the most accurate name for the current node type |
| nodeValue | string | no | The value of this node, depending on its type. |
| nodeType | int | yes | Gets the type of the node. One of the predefined XML_xxx_NODE constants |
| parentNode | DOMNode | yes | The parent of this node. |
| childNodes | DOMNodeList | yes | A DOMNodeList that contains all children of this node. If there are no children, this is an empty DOMNodeList. |
| firstChild | DOMNode | yes | The first child of this node. If there is no such node, this returns NULL. |
| lastChild | DOMNode | yes | The last child of this node. If there is no such node, this returns NULL. |
| previousSibling | DOMNode | yes | The node immediately preceding this node. If there is no such node, this returns NULL. |
| nextSibling | DOMNode | yes | The node immediately following this node. If there is no such node, this returns NULL. |
| attributes | DOMNamedNodeMap | yes | A DOMNamedNodeMap containing the attributes of this node (if it is a DOMElement) or NULL otherwise. |
| ownerDocument | DOMDocument | yes | The DOMDocument object associated with this node. |
| namespaceURI | string | yes | The namespace URI of this node, or NULL if it is unspecified. |
| prefix | string | no | The namespace prefix of this node, or NULL if it is unspecified. |
| localName | string | yes | Returns the local part of the qualified name of this node. |
| baseURI | string | yes | The absolute base URI of this node or NULL if the implementation wasn't able to obtain an absolute URI. |
| textContent | string | no | This attribute returns the text content of this node and its descendants. |
DOMNodelist->item() - Retrieves a node specified by index
| Name | Type | Read-only | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| length | int | yes | The number of nodes in the list. The range of valid child node indices is 0 to length - 1 inclusive. |
Extends DOMNode
| Name | Type | Read-only | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| publicId | string | yes | |
| systemId | string | yes |
Extends DOMNode.
DOMProcessingInstruction->__construct() - construct a new DOMProcessingInstruction object
| Name | Type | Read-only | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| target | string | yes | |
| data | string | no |
Extends DOMCharacterData.
DOMText->__construct() - construct a new DOMText object
DOMText->isWhitespaceInElementContent() - Indicates whether this text node contains whitespace
DOMText->splitText() - Breaks the node into two nodes at the specified offset
| Name | Type | Read-only | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| wholeText | string | yes |
DOMXPath->__construct() - construct a new DOMXPath object
DOMXPath->registerNamespace() - Registers the namespace with the DOMXpath object
DOMXPath->evaluate() - Evaluates the given XPath expression and returns a typed result if possible
DOMXPath->query() - Evaluates the given XPath expression
| Name | Type | Read-only | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| document | DOMDocument |
Many examples in this reference require an XML file. We will use book.xml that contains the following:
Example#1 book.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN"
"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd" [
]>
<book id="listing">
<title>My lists</title>
<chapter id="books">
<title>My books</title>
<para>
<informaltable>
<tgroup cols="4">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Title</entry>
<entry>Author</entry>
<entry>Language</entry>
<entry>ISBN</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
<entry>The Grapes of Wrath</entry>
<entry>John Steinbeck</entry>
<entry>en</entry>
<entry>0140186409</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>The Pearl</entry>
<entry>John Steinbeck</entry>
<entry>en</entry>
<entry>014017737X</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>Samarcande</entry>
<entry>Amine Maalouf</entry>
<entry>fr</entry>
<entry>2253051209</entry>
</row>
<!-- TODO: I have a lot of remaining books to add.. -->
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable>
</para>
</chapter>
</book>
The constants below are defined by this extension, and will only be available when the extension has either been compiled into PHP or dynamically loaded at runtime.
| Constant | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| XML_ELEMENT_NODE (integer) | 1 | Node is a DOMElement |
| XML_ATTRIBUTE_NODE (integer) | 2 | Node is a DOMAttr |
| XML_TEXT_NODE (integer) | 3 | Node is a DOMText |
| XML_CDATA_SECTION_NODE (integer) | 4 | Node is a DOMCharacterData |
| XML_ENTITY_REF_NODE (integer) | 5 | Node is a DOMEntityReference |
| XML_ENTITY_NODE (integer) | 6 | Node is a DOMEntity |
| XML_PI_NODE (integer) | 7 | Node is a DOMProcessingInstruction |
| XML_COMMENT_NODE (integer) | 8 | Node is a DOMComment |
| XML_DOCUMENT_NODE (integer) | 9 | Node is a DOMDocument |
| XML_DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE (integer) | 10 | Node is a DOMDocumentType |
| XML_DOCUMENT_FRAG_NODE (integer) | 11 | Node is a DOMDocumentFragment |
| XML_NOTATION_NODE (integer) | 12 | Node is a DOMNotation |
| XML_HTML_DOCUMENT_NODE (integer) | 13 | |
| XML_DTD_NODE (integer) | 14 | |
| XML_ELEMENT_DECL_NODE (integer) | 15 | |
| XML_ATTRIBUTE_DECL_NODE (integer) | 16 | |
| XML_ENTITY_DECL_NODE (integer) | 17 | |
| XML_NAMESPACE_DECL_NODE (integer) | 18 | |
| XML_ATTRIBUTE_CDATA (integer) | 1 | |
| XML_ATTRIBUTE_ID (integer) | 2 | |
| XML_ATTRIBUTE_IDREF (integer) | 3 | |
| XML_ATTRIBUTE_IDREFS (integer) | 4 | |
| XML_ATTRIBUTE_ENTITY (integer) | 5 | |
| XML_ATTRIBUTE_NMTOKEN (integer) | 7 | |
| XML_ATTRIBUTE_NMTOKENS (integer) | 8 | |
| XML_ATTRIBUTE_ENUMERATION (integer) | 9 | |
| XML_ATTRIBUTE_NOTATION (integer) | 10 |
| Constant | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| DOM_INDEX_SIZE_ERR (integer) | 1 | If index or size is negative, or greater than the allowed value. |
| DOMSTRING_SIZE_ERR (integer) | 2 | If the specified range of text does not fit into a DOMString. |
| DOM_HIERARCHY_REQUEST_ERR (integer) | 3 | If any node is inserted somewhere it doesn't belong |
| DOM_WRONG_DOCUMENT_ERR (integer) | 4 | If a node is used in a different document than the one that created it. |
| DOM_INVALID_CHARACTER_ERR (integer) | 5 | If an invalid or illegal character is specified, such as in a name. |
| DOM_NO_DATA_ALLOWED_ERR (integer) | 6 | If data is specified for a node which does not support data. |
| DOM_NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR (integer) | 7 | If an attempt is made to modify an object where modifications are not allowed. |
| DOM_NOT_FOUND_ERR (integer) | 8 | If an attempt is made to reference a node in a context where it does not exist. |
| DOM_NOT_SUPPORTED_ERR (integer) | 9 | If the implementation does not support the requested type of object or operation. |
| DOM_INUSE_ATTRIBUTE_ERR (integer) | 10 | If an attempt is made to add an attribute that is already in use elsewhere. |
| DOM_INVALID_STATE_ERR (integer) | 11 | If an attempt is made to use an object that is not, or is no longer, usable. |
| DOM_SYNTAX_ERR (integer) | 12 | If an invalid or illegal string is specified. |
| DOM_INVALID_MODIFICATION_ERR (integer) | 13 | If an attempt is made to modify the type of the underlying object. |
| DOM_NAMESPACE_ERR (integer) | 14 | If an attempt is made to create or change an object in a way which is incorrect with regard to namespaces. |
| DOM_INVALID_ACCESS_ERR (integer) | 15 | If a parameter or an operation is not supported by the underlying object. |
| DOM_VALIDATION_ERR (integer) | 16 | If a call to a method such as insertBefore or removeChild would make the Node invalid with respect to "partial validity", this exception would be raised and the operation would not be done. |