Remove XML element with PHP

Question

I want to remove the element of the XML file under certain condition:

example.xml:

<all>
- <item>
  <ProductID>46121</ProductID> 
  <Price1>50</Price1> 
  </item>
- <item>
  <ProductID>51151</ProductID> 
  <Price1>20</Price1> 
  </item>
</all>

php:

<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file('example.xml');
foreach ($xml->item as $item) {
$price  = $item->Price1;
if ($price < 50 ) { REMOVE THIS ITEM  } 
}
$xml->asXML("result.xml");
?>

I want if the price is less than 50 REMOVE THIS ITEM

result.xml to be:

<all>
- <item>
  <ProductID>46121</ProductID> 
  <Price1>50</Price1> 
  </item>
</all>

Possible duplicate of [Remove a child with a specific attribute, in SimpleXML for PHP](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/262351/remove-a-child-with-a-specific-attribute-in-simplexml-for-php) — John V., Dec 06 '15 at 09:52

Simone Nigro · Answer 1 · 2015-12-12T09:14:35.567

1

You are looking for removeChild in the DOM extension.

With dom_import_simplexml() you can convert your SimpleXMLElement into a DOMElement.

<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file('example.xml');

$toDelete = array();

foreach ($xml->item as $item) {

    $price  = $item->Price1;

    if ($price < 50 ) { 
        $toDelete[] = $item;
    } 
}

foreach ($toDelete as $item) {
    $dom = dom_import_simplexml($item);
    $dom->parentNode->removeChild($dom);
}

echo $xml->asXML("result.xml");

output (live here)

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<all>
 <item>
  <ProductID>46121</ProductID> 
  <Price1>50</Price1> 
  </item>
</all>

edited Dec 12 '15 at 09:14

answered Dec 06 '15 at 10:01

Simone Nigro

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This solution works only for the first found item. If the items are more generate an error. – ilia2 Dec 06 '15 at 10:57
I suspect that this is because modifying the data while it's under iteration invalidates the iterator position... see my updates – Simone Nigro Dec 06 '15 at 11:12
Is it possible to add a second chek (work together with $price < 50) as: if ($ProductID == "46121") { $toDelete[] = $item; } – ilia2 Dec 06 '15 at 11:49
yes `($item->Price1 < 50 || $item->ProductID == "46121") ` – Simone Nigro Dec 06 '15 at 11:53

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:52

Combine xpath to select all wanted <item>s with unset to remove an <item> from your SimpleXml object:

$xml = simplexml_load_string($x); // assume XML in $x
$items = $xml->xpath("/all/item[Price1 < 50]");
foreach ($items as $i) unset($i[0]);

Check the result with

echo $xml->asXML();

Comments:

the xpath expression is straightforward, the [] enclose the condition. xpath will return an array of SimpleXml elements to $items.
to remove a node, I use the self-reference-technique as discussed many times on SO.

see it working: https://eval.in/481413

Remove XML element with PHP

2 Answers2