php-doc-en/reference/simplexml/functions/simplexml-load-file.xml

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<refentry id='function.simplexml-load-file'>
 <refnamediv>
  <refname>simplexml_load_file</refname>
  <refpurpose>
   Interprets an XML file into an object
  </refpurpose>
 </refnamediv>
 <refsect1 role="description">
  &reftitle.description;
  <methodsynopsis>
   <type>object</type><methodname>simplexml_load_file</methodname>
   <methodparam><type>string</type><parameter>filename</parameter></methodparam>
   <methodparam choice="opt"><type>string</type><parameter>class_name</parameter></methodparam>
   <methodparam choice="opt"><type>int</type><parameter>options</parameter></methodparam>
   <methodparam choice="opt"><type>string</type><parameter>ns</parameter></methodparam>
   <methodparam choice="opt"><type>bool</type><parameter>is_prefix</parameter></methodparam>
  </methodsynopsis>
  <para>
   Convert the well-formed XML document in the given file to an object.
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 role="parameters">
  &reftitle.parameters;
  <para>
   <variablelist>
    <varlistentry>
     <term><parameter>filename</parameter></term>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       Path to the XML file
      </para>
      <note>
       <para>
        Libxml 2 unescapes the URI, so if you want to pass e.g.
        <literal>b&amp;c</literal> as the URI parameter <literal>a</literal>,
        you have to call
        <literal>simplexml_load_file(rawurlencode('http://example.com/?a=' .
        urlencode('b&amp;c')))</literal>. Since PHP 5.1.0 you don't need to do
        this because PHP will do it for you.
       </para>
      </note>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
    <varlistentry>
     <term><parameter>class_name</parameter></term>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       You may use this optional parameter so that
       <function>simplexml_load_file</function> will return an object of 
       the specified class. That class should extend the 
       <type>SimpleXMLElement</type> class.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
    <varlistentry>
     <term><parameter>options</parameter></term>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       Since PHP 5.1.0 and Libxml 2.6.0, you may also use the
       <parameter>options</parameter> parameter to specify <link
       linkend="libxml.constants">additional Libxml parameters</link>.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
    <varlistentry>
     <term><parameter>ns</parameter></term>
     <listitem>
      <para>
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
    <varlistentry>
     <term><parameter>is_prefix</parameter></term>
     <listitem>
      <para>
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
   </variablelist>
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 role="returnvalues">
  &reftitle.returnvalues;
  <para>
   Returns an <type>object</type> of class <type>SimpleXMLElement</type> with
   properties containing the data held within the XML document. On errors, it
   will return &false;.
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 role="examples">
  &reftitle.examples;
  <para>
   <example>
    <title>Interpret an XML document</title>
    <programlisting role="php">
<![CDATA[
<?php
// The file test.xml contains an XML document with a root element
// and at least an element /[root]/title.

if (file_exists('test.xml')) {
    $xml = simplexml_load_file('test.xml');
 
    var_dump($xml);
} else {
    exit('Failed to open test.xml.');
}
?>
]]>
    </programlisting>
    <para>
     This script will display, on success:
    </para>
    <screen>
<![CDATA[
SimpleXMLElement Object
(
  [title] => Example Title
  ...
)
]]>
    </screen>
    <simpara>
     At this point, you can go about using <literal>$xml->title</literal>
     and any other elements.
    </simpara>
   </example>
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 role="seealso">
  &reftitle.seealso;
  <para>
   <simplelist>
    <member><xref linkend="function.simplexml-load-string" /></member>
    <member><xref linkend="function.simplexml-element-construct" /></member>
   </simplelist>
  </para>
 </refsect1>
</refentry>

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