How To Convert XML To Associative Array in PHP

Today, I need to convert XML file into associative array to store in variable. So I have done a lot of googling and found several methods/views and library to convert XML object into Array, but in stack overflow – I have found below simple script to convert xml into array.I am using file_get_contents() php method to read xml file data into string.

Also checkout other related tutorials,

In this tutorial, I will let you know how to convert XML into array in php.

Step 1: Sample XML file

I have created below xml sample.xml file, which will use to convert into array using PHP.

<?xml version='1.0'?>  
<moleculedb>  
    <molecule name='Benzine'>  
        <symbol>ben</symbol>  
        <code>A</code>  
    </molecule>  
    <molecule name='Water'>  
        <symbol>h2o</symbol>  
        <code>K</code>  
    </molecule>
	<molecule name='Parvez'>  
        <symbol>h2o</symbol>  
        <code>K</code>  
    </molecule>
</moleculedb>

<?xml version='1.0'?>

</molecule>

</molecule>

</molecule>

</moleculedb>

Step 2: Convert sample.xml File Into String
Now, I will use file_get_contents() PHP method to read entire file into a string and store into $xmlfile variable.

$xmlfile = file_get_contents($path);

1	$xmlfile = file_get_contents($path);

Result

Step 3: Convert string of XML into an Object,
We have xml file as an string, So Let’s convert this xml string into Objects.I will use simplexml_load_string() php method to convert string of XML into an object.

$ob= simplexml_load_string($xmlfile);

1	$ob= simplexml_load_string($xmlfile);

Result

Step 4: Encode XML Object Into JSON
I will encode XML object into JSON, below code will convert xml object into json string.

$json  = json_encode($ob);

1	$json = json_encode($ob);

Result

Step 5: Decode Json Object
Finally we will decode json to get array from json string.

$configData = json_decode($json, true);

1	$configData = json_decode($json, true);

Result

Full Source Code

$path = "sample.xml"
$xmlfile = file_get_contents($path);
$ob= simplexml_load_string($xmlfile);
$json  = json_encode($ob);
$configData = json_decode($json, true);
echo "<pre>":print_r($configData);

$path = "sample.xml"

$xmlfile = file_get_contents($path);

$ob= simplexml_load_string($xmlfile);

$json = json_encode($ob);

$configData = json_decode($json, true);

echo "<pre>":print_r($configData);

Full Source Code

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