PHP: xPath - write first element in variable in 1 line

Question

This is what I have:

$namex = $xml->xpath("//a[@b=foo]/c");
$name = $namex[0];

echo $name;

It works, as the first line creates an array and the second line reads the first entry. Is there a way to combine the two lines to get the intended result right away?

possible duplicate of [php simplexmlelement get first element in one line](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2815639/php-simplexmlelement-get-first-element-in-one-line) — hakre, Jul 13 '13 at 09:26
Recommended reading: [PHP syntax for dereferencing function result](http://stackoverflow.com/q/742764/367456) — hakre, Jul 13 '13 at 10:02

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 10 '13 at 20:22

1

You can use list:

list($name) = $xml->xpath("//a[@b=foo]/c");

answered Jul 10 '13 at 20:22

linepogl

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Good use of `list()`, but they'd still have to `echo`. So not a true one-liner. – Jason McCreary Jul 10 '13 at 20:23
Sorry @JasonMcCreary for not making my self clear, the 'echo' line was for testing. This is what I'm looking for! – user1952748 Jul 10 '13 at 20:45
@user1952748, no worries. In that case, +. – Jason McCreary Jul 10 '13 at 20:46

Jason McCreary · Answer 2 · 2013-07-10T20:16:05.817

0

Is there a way to combine the two lines to get the intended result right away?

Yes and no...

PHP 5.4+:

echo $xml->xpath("//a[@b=foo]/c")[0]; // array dereferencing, yay!

PHP < 5.4:

$names = $xml->xpath("//a[@b=foo]/c");
echo $names[0];

edited Jul 10 '13 at 20:16

answered Jul 10 '13 at 20:04

Jason McCreary

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Thanks! Sadly, this is running in PHP 5.3 :D – user1952748 Jul 10 '13 at 20:08
No worries. You wouldn't want to use array dereferencing if you wanted other values as you'd have to rerun the method. – Jason McCreary Jul 10 '13 at 20:15

PHP: xPath - write first element in variable in 1 line

2 Answers2