Best PHP parser for invalid format xml

Question

Whats the best xml parser to use especially for XML that's technically invalid format with the <?xml tag missing?

I cant use simpleXML because that gives a error for being invalid. I know i can manually add the tags I need after i get the xml but id prefer to see what you guys think is the best method for parsing a xml into an array in php.

if it's not valid xml, then technically it's not really xml... so don't look at an xml parser to handle what isn't really xml. expecting a chicken to be your banana isn't really useful. — Marc B, Apr 02 '13 at 18:13
...most times i got such errors it was because of the "forbidden" XML characters, check here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/730133/invalid-characters-in-xml — , Apr 02 '13 at 18:14

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 02 '13 at 18:16

1

You can use SimpleXML and disable errors by using libxml_use_internal_errors(false);. In case SimpleXML simply won't use your string, I've personally used DOM to parse/fix broken XML before.

On the other hand, why don't you simply add the <?xml characters before reading it?

answered Apr 02 '13 at 18:16

h2ooooooo

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thats what i was thinking but wasnt sure if that would be the best way. Also i tried using DOM but couldnt get it to work – Yeak Apr 02 '13 at 19:22

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 17 '15 at 07:25

You can try this

<?php
//invalid xml file
$xmlfile = 'test.xml';
$xmlparser = xml_parser_create();

// open a file and read data
$fp = fopen($xmlfile, 'r');
$xmldata = fread($fp, 4096);

xml_parse_into_struct($xmlparser,$xmldata,$values);

xml_parser_free($xmlparser);
print_r($values);
?>

Best PHP parser for invalid format xml

2 Answers2