Convert associative arrays into XML in PHP

August 12, 2021 XpertPhp

In this article, we will explain to you how to convert associative arrays into XML in PHP. so we will give you a simple example of a PHP associative array to XML(PHP array to XML).

sometimes we need to convert associative arrays into XML file in PHP. so here we use the XMLWriter class to write an XML file into PHP.

If you want to store dynamic data into an XML file then we can easily store data in an XML file using PHP. so you can see our following example.

Create Associative Array

In this step, We need to associative the array for convert the array to XML. so here first we will create an associative array. for that, you can following example.

<?php
  $userData = array(
	'title' => 'User Details',
	'totalUser' => 4,
	'user_records' => array(
		'user' => array(
			array('firstname' => 'john', 'lastname' => 'doe', 'username' => 'jd123'),
			array('firstname' => 'ajay', 'lastname' => 'devgan', 'username' => 'ad123'),
			array('firstname' => 'rohit', 'lastname' => 'sharma', 'username' => 'rs123'),
			array('firstname' => 'kapil', 'lastname' => 'sharma', 'username' => 'ks123')
		)
	)
);
?>

<?php

$userData = array(

'title' => 'User Details',

'totalUser' => 4,

'user_records' => array(

'user' => array(

array('firstname' => 'john', 'lastname' => 'doe', 'username' => 'jd123'),

array('firstname' => 'ajay', 'lastname' => 'devgan', 'username' => 'ad123'),

array('firstname' => 'rohit', 'lastname' => 'sharma', 'username' => 'rs123'),

array('firstname' => 'kapil', 'lastname' => 'sharma', 'username' => 'ks123')

)

);

Convert associative array to XML

In this step, We will convert the associative array to XML using the createXMLFile function.

function createXMLFile( XMLWriter $xml, $data ) {
	foreach( $data as $key => $value ) {
		if( is_array( $value )) {
			$xml->startElement( $key );
			createXMLFile( $xml, $value );
			$xml->endElement();
			continue;
		}
		$xml->writeElement( $key, $value );
	}
}

function createXMLFile( XMLWriter $xml, $data ) {

foreach( $data as $key => $value ) {

if( is_array( $value )) {

$xml->startElement( $key );

createXMLFile( $xml, $value );

$xml->endElement();

continue;

}

$xml->writeElement( $key, $value );

}

Example

<?php
  $userData = array(
	'title' => 'User Details',
	'totalUser' => 4,
	'user_records' => array(
		'user' => array(
			array('firstname' => 'john', 'lastname' => 'doe', 'username' => 'jd123'),
			array('firstname' => 'ajay', 'lastname' => 'devgan', 'username' => 'ad123'),
			array('firstname' => 'rohit', 'lastname' => 'sharma', 'username' => 'rs123'),
			array('firstname' => 'kapil', 'lastname' => 'sharma', 'username' => 'ks123')
		)
	)
);

$xml = new XmlWriter();
$xml->openURI('user.xml');
$xml->openMemory();
$xml->startDocument('1.0', 'utf-8');
$xml->startElement('user_details') ;
createXMLFile($xml,$userData);
$xml->endElement();

function createXMLFile(XMLWriter $xml,$data) {
	foreach($data as $key => $value) {
		if(is_array($value)) {
			$xml->startElement($key);
			createXMLFile($xml,$value);
			$xml->endElement();
			continue;
		}
		$xml->writeElement($key,$value);
	}
}
?>

<?php

$userData = array(

'title' => 'User Details',

'totalUser' => 4,

'user_records' => array(

'user' => array(

array('firstname' => 'john', 'lastname' => 'doe', 'username' => 'jd123'),

array('firstname' => 'ajay', 'lastname' => 'devgan', 'username' => 'ad123'),

array('firstname' => 'rohit', 'lastname' => 'sharma', 'username' => 'rs123'),

array('firstname' => 'kapil', 'lastname' => 'sharma', 'username' => 'ks123')

)

);

$xml = new XmlWriter();

$xml->openURI('user.xml');

$xml->openMemory();

$xml->startDocument('1.0', 'utf-8');

$xml->startElement('user_details') ;

createXMLFile($xml,$userData);

$xml->endElement();

function createXMLFile(XMLWriter $xml,$data) {

foreach($data as $key => $value) {

if(is_array($value)) {

$xml->startElement($key);

createXMLFile($xml,$value);

$xml->endElement();

continue;

}

$xml->writeElement($key,$value);

}

Output

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<user_details>
  <title>User Details</title>
  <totalUser>4</totalUser>
  <user_records>
	<user>
	  <firstname>john</firstname>
	  <lastname>doe</lastname>
	  <username>john123</username>
	</user>
	<user>
	  <firstname>ajay</firstname>
	  <lastname>devgan</lastname>
	  <username>ajdev</username>
	</user>
	<user>
	  <firstname>rohit</firstname>
	  <lastname>sharma</lastname>
	  <username>rs123</username>
	</user>
	<user>
	  <firstname>kapil</firstname>
	  <lastname>sharma</lastname>
	  <username>ks123</username>
	</user>
  </user_records>
</user_details>

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<user_details>

<title>User Details</title>

<user_records>

<user>

</user>

<user>

<lastname>devgan</lastname>

<username>ajdev</username>

</user>

<user>

<firstname>rohit</firstname>

<lastname>sharma</lastname>

</user>

<user>

<firstname>kapil</firstname>

<lastname>sharma</lastname>

</user>

</user_records>

</user_details>

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