The PHP function presented in this page can be used to convert XML content to JSON string. The XMLtoJSON() function receives the URL address of the XML file. Returns a string with the JSON object.
• This function cannot be used with XML content with Namespace.
Code of XMLtoJSON()
// converts XML content to JSON
// receives the URL address of the XML file. Returns a string with the JSON object
function XMLtoJSON($xml) {
$xml = file_get_contents($xml); // gets XML content from file
$xml = str_replace(array("\n", "\r", "\t"), '', $xml); // removes newlines, returns and tabs
// replace double quotes with single quotes, to ensure the simple XML function can parse the XML
$xml = trim(str_replace('"', "'", $xml));
$simpleXml = simplexml_load_string($xml);
return stripslashes(json_encode($simpleXml)); // returns a string with JSON object
}
- Just add the XMLtoJSON() function in you PHP file, and call it passing the URL address of the XML file.
- If you want to convert XML content stored into a string, delete or comment this line of code:
$xml = file_get_contents($xml);
And call the XMLtoJSON() function passing the string with the XML content.
$strxml = 'xml content';
$strjson = XMLtoJSON($strxml);
• This function can also be used to easily convert XML content to Array. Just call the function to get the string with JSON object, then apply the json_decode() to convert the JSON string to Array.
$strjson = XMLtoJSON($xml);
$arrjson = json_decode($strjson, true);
Examples usage XMLtoJSON()
1. XML content stored into a file named "test1.xml".
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<websites>
<site>
<title>Web Programming Courses</title>
<url>http://coursesweb.net/</url>
</site>
<site>
<title>Courses Games Anime</title>
<url>http://www.marplo.net/</url>
</site>
</websites>
PHP code:
<?php
// converts XML content to JSON
// receives the URL address of the XML file. Returns a string with the JSON object
function XMLtoJSON($xml) {
$xml_cnt = file_get_contents($xml); // gets XML content from file
$xml_cnt = str_replace(array("\n", "\r", "\t"), '', $xml_cnt); // removes newlines, returns and tabs
// replace double quotes with single quotes, to ensure the simple XML function can parse the XML
$xml_cnt = trim(str_replace('"', "'", $xml_cnt));
$simpleXml = simplexml_load_string($xml_cnt);
return json_encode($simpleXml); // returns a string with JSON object
}
echo XMLtoJSON('test1.xml');
Results:
{"site":[{"title":"Web Programming Courses","url":"http://coursesweb.net/"},{"title":"Courses Games Anime","url":"http://www.marplo.net/"}]}
2. XML content with IDs in tags, and added into a string:
<?php
// converts XML content to JSON
// receives a string with the XML content. Returns a string with the JSON object
function XMLtoJSON($xml) {
$xml = str_replace(array("\n", "\r", "\t"), '', $xml); // removes newlines, returns and tabs
// replace double quotes with single quotes, to ensure the simple XML function can parse the XML
$xml = trim(str_replace('"', "'", $xml));
$simpleXml = simplexml_load_string($xml);
return stripslashes(json_encode($simpleXml)); // returns a string with JSON object
}
$strxml = '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<websites>
<site id="1" pr="5">
<title>Web Programming Courses</title>
<url>http://coursesweb.net/</url>
</site>
<site id="2" pr="4">
<title>Courses Games Anime</title>
<url>http://www.marplo.net/</url>
</site>
</websites>';
echo XMLtoJSON($strxml);
Results:
{"site":[{"@attributes":{"id":"1","pr":"5"},"title":"Web Programming Courses","url":"http://coursesweb.net/"},{"@attributes":{"id":"2","pr":"4"},"title":"Courses Games Anime","url":"http://www.marplo.net/"}]}