PHP - XMLReader::readOuterXml() Function

Definition and Usage

XML is a mark-up language to share the data across the web, XML is for both human read-able and machine read-able. XMLReader extension is used to read/retrieve the contents of an XML document i.e. using the methods of the XMLReader class you can read each node of an XML document.

The XMLReader::readOuterXml() function of the XMLReader class is used to read the current node’s contents including itself.

Syntax

XMLReader::readOuterXml();

Parameters

This function does not accept any parameters.

Return Values

This function returns a string value representing the contents of the current node, including itself. In case of failure this function returns an empty string.

PHP Version

This function was first introduced in PHP Version 5 and works in all the later versions.

Example

Following example demonstrates the usage of the XMLReader::readOuterXml() function −

mydata.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Tutorials>
   <Tutorial>
      <Name>JavaFX</Name>
      <Pages>535</Pages>
      <Author>Krishna</Author>
      <Version>11</Version>
   </Tutorial>

   <Tutorial>
      <Name>CoffeeScript</Name>
      <Pages>235</Pages>
      <Author>Kasyap</Author>
      <Version>2.5.1</Version>
   </Tutorial>
</Tutorials>

sample.php

<?php
   //Creating an XMLReader
   $reader = new XMLReader();

   //Opening a reader
   $reader->open("mydata.xml");

   //Reading the contents
   $reader->read();

   $data = $reader->readOuterXml();
   print($data);

   //Closing the reader
   $reader->close();
?>

This will produce following result −

<Tutorials>
   <Tutorial>
      <Name>JavaFX</Name>
      <Pages>535</Pages>
      <Author>Krishna</Author>
      <Version>11</Version>
   </Tutorial>

   <Tutorial>
      <Name>CoffeeScript</Name>
      <Pages>235</Pages>
      <Author>Kasyap</Author>
      <Version>2.5.1</Version>
   </Tutorial>
</Tutorials>

Example

Following is another example of this function −

<?php
   //Creating an XMLReader
   $reader = new XMLReader();

   $data = "<Tutorials>
      <Tutorial>
         <Name>JavaFX</Name>
         <Pages>535</Pages>
         <Author>Krishna</Author>
         <Version>11</Version>
      </Tutorial>

      <Tutorial>
         <Name>CoffeeScript</Name>
         <Pages>235</Pages>
         <Author>Kasyap</Author>
         <Version>2.5.1</Version>
      </Tutorial>
   </Tutorials>";

   //Opening a reader
   $reader->xml($data);

   //Reading the contents
   $reader->read();

   $data = $reader->readOuterXml();
   print($data);

   //Closing the reader
   $reader->close();
?>

This will produce following result −

<Tutorials>
   <Tutorial>
      <Name>JavaFX</Name>
      <Pages>535</Pages>
      <Author>Krishna</Author>
      <Version>11</Version>
   </Tutorial>

   <Tutorial>
      <Name>CoffeeScript</Name>
      <Pages>235</Pages>
      <Author>Kasyap</Author>
      <Version>2.5.1</Version>
   </Tutorial>
</Tutorials>