SimpleXML returns an object instead of a string

Question

I have some XML that looks like this:

<Body> <RESULT> <SUCCESS>true</SUCCESS> <SESSIONID>42</SESSIONID> <SESSION_ENCODING>;jsessionid=42</SESSION_ENCODING> </RESULT> </Body>

SimpleXML parses it, in this way:

$obj = simplexml_load_string($xmlStringAsAbove); $this->sessionId = $obj->Body->RESULT->SESSIONID;

and the result is this:

[sessionId:protected] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [0] => 42 )

What I need is this:

[sessionId:protected] => 42

How can I achieve this?

Gordon · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-05 07:06:17Z

8

Cast it to a string (or an int) to get the contents of the <SESSIONID> tag:

$this->sessionId = (string) $obj->Body->RESULT->SESSIONID;

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answered Jul 19, 2012 at 16:06

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Comments

Suzie Randall · Accepted Answer · 2021-10-26 03:10:29Z

In my experience, SimpleXMLElement can be a pain when you need a value instead of an object.

As per the previous answer, you can cast the XML part you want, or use one of the following methods:

From the ops example, to get an integer you can use intval():

$this->sessionId = intval($obj->Body->RESULT->SESSIONID);

As of (PHP 5 >= 5.3.0, PHP 7) you can also use the SimpleXMLElement::__toString method to get a string;

$this->sessionIdasString = $obj->Body->RESULT->SESSIONID->__toString();