XML Parsing - PHP encoding

Question

I have a big XML (>15Mb) and i have to read it, parse it, and store some values in a DB. My problem is, the XML's come in in differents formats (UTF-8, ISO-8859-1).

With UTF-8 no prob. But ISO-8859-1 is giving me huge problems!! The tags come with special charachters which are not parsed correctly by XMLReader and readOuterXML()

Tryed already with, but with no luck

$xml = new XMLReader;
$xml->open($import_file,'ISO-8859-1');  

Tried with:

• utf8_encode
• mb_convert_encoding($stringXML, 'UTF-8' );
• iconv("ISO-8859-1", "UTF-8//TRANSLIT", $stringXML);

The XML (simplified)

• tag (id) --> no problem
• tag (baños) --> problem

xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<data>
    <id><![CDATA[5531]]></id>
    <baños><![CDATA[0]]></baños>
</data>

None of them helped me.

Answer 1

What is your internal encoding in php? You can check it with echo mb_internal_encoding();.

If it is UTF-8, then mb_convert_encoding($data, "UTF-8") won't do anything, because the third parameter $from_encoding will be "UTF-8" already.

You have to provide the source encoding as a third parameter to the function.

So maybe this will do the trick:

//check which encoding the data has? 
$encoding = mb_detect_encoding($data);
if($encoding != "UTF-8"){
    //specify from which encoding to convert to utf-8
    $data = mb_convert_encoding($data, "UTF-8", $encoding); 
}

Answer 2

As @Evert pointed out, the byte code of your ñ is: 0x96, and the encoding of your XML file is in fact MacRoman (see the table here).

If you want to convert your data to UTF-8 format, here is what you need to do:

$stringXML = file_get_contents('yourFile.xml');
$data = iconv('MACINTOSH', 'UTF-8', $stringXML);

---

Another possibility is to use iconv as a command line:

iconv -f MACINTOSH -t UTF-8 file.xml > outputUTF8.xml

(Here is a link to the lib for Linux: http://www.gnu.org/software/libiconv/)

Answer 3

I was able to successfully decode the given xml using Symfony's XmlEncoder class (https://github.com/symfony/Serializer). I stored the xml in a test.xml file to guarantee the correct encoding (since my php files are encoded in UTF-8 by default).

$encoder = new Symfony\Component\Serializer\Encoder\XmlEncoder();
$data = $encoder->decode(file_get_contents('test.xml'), 'xml');
//$data = ['id' = 5531, 'baños' => 0]

Answer 4

If there's a problem with special characters in the XML tags, here's a quick a dirty way of cleaning up the tags before parsing:

$xml = <<<END
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<data>
    <id><![CDATA[5531]]></id>
    <baños><![CDATA[0]]></baños>
</data>
END;

function FilterXML($matches)
{
  return $matches[1] . preg_replace('/[^a-z]/ui', '_', $matches[2]) .
    $matches[3];
}

var_dump(preg_replace_callback('#(</?)([^!?]+?)(\\s|>)#', 'FilterXML', $xml));

It will replace <baños> with <ba_os>.

Answer 5

You can try to read the XML file first, and then convert the special characters, and then read the XML string using XMLReader.

Here's the code:

<?php
header("Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1");
function normalizeChars($s){
    $replace = array(
        '&amp;' => 'and', '@' => 'at', '©' => 'c', '®' => 'r', 'À' => 'a',
        'Á' => 'a', 'Â' => 'a', 'Ä' => 'a', 'Å' => 'a', 'Æ' => 'ae','Ç' => 'c',
        'È' => 'e', 'É' => 'e', 'Ë' => 'e', 'Ì' => 'i', 'Í' => 'i', 'Î' => 'i',
        'Ï' => 'i', 'Ò' => 'o', 'Ó' => 'o', 'Ô' => 'o', 'Õ' => 'o', 'Ö' => 'o',
        'Ø' => 'o', 'Ù' => 'u', 'Ú' => 'u', 'Û' => 'u', 'Ü' => 'u', 'Ý' => 'y',
        'ß' => 'ss','à' => 'a', 'á' => 'a', 'â' => 'a', 'ä' => 'a', 'å' => 'a',
        'æ' => 'ae','ç' => 'c', 'è' => 'e', 'é' => 'e', 'ê' => 'e', 'ë' => 'e',
        'ì' => 'i', 'í' => 'i', 'î' => 'i', 'ï' => 'i', 'ò' => 'o', 'ó' => 'o',
        'ô' => 'o', 'õ' => 'o', 'ö' => 'o', 'ø' => 'o', 'ù' => 'u', 'ú' => 'u',
        'û' => 'u', 'ü' => 'u', 'ý' => 'y', 'þ' => 'p', 'ÿ' => 'y', 'Ā' => 'a',
        'ā' => 'a', 'Ă' => 'a', 'ă' => 'a', 'Ą' => 'a', 'ą' => 'a', 'Ć' => 'c',
        'ć' => 'c', 'Ĉ' => 'c', 'ĉ' => 'c', 'Ċ' => 'c', 'ċ' => 'c', 'Č' => 'c',
        'č' => 'c', 'Ď' => 'd', 'ď' => 'd', 'Đ' => 'd', 'đ' => 'd', 'Ē' => 'e',
        'ē' => 'e', 'Ĕ' => 'e', 'ĕ' => 'e', 'Ė' => 'e', 'ė' => 'e', 'Ę' => 'e',
        'ę' => 'e', 'Ě' => 'e', 'ě' => 'e', 'Ĝ' => 'g', 'ĝ' => 'g', 'Ğ' => 'g',
        'ğ' => 'g', 'Ġ' => 'g', 'ġ' => 'g', 'Ģ' => 'g', 'ģ' => 'g', 'Ĥ' => 'h',
        'ĥ' => 'h', 'Ħ' => 'h', 'ħ' => 'h', 'Ĩ' => 'i', 'ĩ' => 'i', 'Ī' => 'i',
        'ī' => 'i', 'Ĭ' => 'i', 'ĭ' => 'i', 'Į' => 'i', 'į' => 'i', 'İ' => 'i',
        'ı' => 'i', 'IJ' => 'ij','ij' => 'ij','Ĵ' => 'j', 'ĵ' => 'j', 'Ķ' => 'k',
        'ķ' => 'k', 'ĸ' => 'k', 'Ĺ' => 'l', 'ĺ' => 'l', 'Ļ' => 'l', 'ļ' => 'l',
        'Ľ' => 'l', 'ľ' => 'l', 'Ŀ' => 'l', 'ŀ' => 'l', 'Ł' => 'l', 'ł' => 'l',
        'Ń' => 'n', 'ń' => 'n', 'Ņ' => 'n', 'ņ' => 'n', 'Ň' => 'n', 'ň' => 'n',
        'ʼn' => 'n', 'Ŋ' => 'n', 'ŋ' => 'n', 'Ō' => 'o', 'ō' => 'o', 'Ŏ' => 'o',
        'ŏ' => 'o', 'Ő' => 'o', 'ő' => 'o', 'Œ' => 'oe','œ' => 'oe','Ŕ' => 'r',
        'ŕ' => 'r', 'Ŗ' => 'r', 'ŗ' => 'r', 'Ř' => 'r', 'ř' => 'r', 'Ś' => 's',
        'ś' => 's', 'Ŝ' => 's', 'ŝ' => 's', 'Ş' => 's', 'ş' => 's', 'Š' => 's',
        'š' => 's', 'Ţ' => 't', 'ţ' => 't', 'Ť' => 't', 'ť' => 't', 'Ŧ' => 't',
        'ŧ' => 't', 'Ũ' => 'u', 'ũ' => 'u', 'Ū' => 'u', 'ū' => 'u', 'Ŭ' => 'u',
        'ŭ' => 'u', 'Ů' => 'u', 'ů' => 'u', 'Ű' => 'u', 'ű' => 'u', 'Ų' => 'u',
        'ų' => 'u', 'Ŵ' => 'w', 'ŵ' => 'w', 'Ŷ' => 'y', 'ŷ' => 'y', 'Ÿ' => 'y',
        'Ź' => 'z', 'ź' => 'z', 'Ż' => 'z', 'ż' => 'z', 'Ž' => 'z', 'ž' => 'z',
        'ſ' => 'z', 'Ə' => 'e', 'ƒ' => 'f', 'Ơ' => 'o', 'ơ' => 'o', 'Ư' => 'u',
        'ư' => 'u', 'Ǎ' => 'a', 'ǎ' => 'a', 'Ǐ' => 'i', 'ǐ' => 'i', 'Ǒ' => 'o',
        'ǒ' => 'o', 'Ǔ' => 'u', 'ǔ' => 'u', 'Ǖ' => 'u', 'ǖ' => 'u', 'Ǘ' => 'u',
        'ǘ' => 'u', 'Ǚ' => 'u', 'ǚ' => 'u', 'Ǜ' => 'u', 'ǜ' => 'u', 'Ǻ' => 'a',
        'ǻ' => 'a', 'Ǽ' => 'ae','ǽ' => 'ae','Ǿ' => 'o', 'ǿ' => 'o', 'ə' => 'e',
        'Ё' => 'jo','Є' => 'e', 'І' => 'i', 'Ї' => 'i', 'А' => 'a', 'Б' => 'b',
        'В' => 'v', 'Г' => 'g', 'Д' => 'd', 'Е' => 'e', 'Ж' => 'zh','З' => 'z',
        'И' => 'i', 'Й' => 'j', 'К' => 'k', 'Л' => 'l', 'М' => 'm', 'Н' => 'n',
        'О' => 'o', 'П' => 'p', 'Р' => 'r', 'С' => 's', 'Т' => 't', 'У' => 'u',
        'Ф' => 'f', 'Х' => 'h', 'Ц' => 'c', 'Ч' => 'ch','Ш' => 'sh','Щ' => 'sch',
        'Ъ' => '-', 'Ы' => 'y', 'Ь' => '-', 'Э' => 'je','Ю' => 'ju','Я' => 'ja',
        'а' => 'a', 'б' => 'b', 'в' => 'v', 'г' => 'g', 'д' => 'd', 'е' => 'e',
        'ж' => 'zh','з' => 'z', 'и' => 'i', 'й' => 'j', 'к' => 'k', 'л' => 'l',
        'м' => 'm', 'н' => 'n', 'о' => 'o', 'п' => 'p', 'р' => 'r', 'с' => 's',
        'т' => 't', 'у' => 'u', 'ф' => 'f', 'х' => 'h', 'ц' => 'c', 'ч' => 'ch',
        'ш' => 'sh','щ' => 'sch','ъ' => '-','ы' => 'y', 'ь' => '-', 'э' => 'je',
        'ю' => 'ju','я' => 'ja','ё' => 'jo','є' => 'e', 'і' => 'i', 'ї' => 'i',
        'Ґ' => 'g', 'ґ' => 'g', 'א' => 'a', 'ב' => 'b', 'ג' => 'g', 'ד' => 'd',
        'ה' => 'h', 'ו' => 'v', 'ז' => 'z', 'ח' => 'h', 'ט' => 't', 'י' => 'i',
        'ך' => 'k', 'כ' => 'k', 'ל' => 'l', 'ם' => 'm', 'מ' => 'm', 'ן' => 'n',
        'נ' => 'n', 'ס' => 's', 'ע' => 'e', 'ף' => 'p', 'פ' => 'p', 'ץ' => 'C',
        'צ' => 'c', 'ק' => 'q', 'ר' => 'r', 'ש' => 'w', 'ת' => 't', '™' => 'tm',
        'ñ' => 'n',
    );
    return strtr($s, $replace);
}

$path_to_file = '';
$xml_text = @file_get_contents($path_to_file);
if(!empty($xml_text)){
    $xml_text = normalizeChars($xml_text);
    $xml = new XMLReader();
    $xml->XML($xml_text);
}
?>

On another note, if you're looking for performance, then you should try SimpleXML and DOM Document as mentioned in the following StackOverflow question: https://stackoverflow.com/a/1835324/1337185

EDIT:

I added header("Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1") because strtr works only with ISO-8859-1. I tried it with the XML string provided by the OP and it's working perfectly. If there's any missing character, feel free to add it the the array.