PHP - xml_error_string() Function

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The XML Parser xml_error_string() function is used to return the XML parser error description for the generated error code. This function takes a single, required parameter, $err_code. It specifies the XML parser error code returned by the xml_get_error_code() method.

Syntax

Below is the syntax of the XML Parser xml_error_string() function −

string xml_error_string ( int $err_code )

Parameters

This function accepts $err_code parameter which is an error code generated from xml_get_error_code() function.

Return Value

The xml_error_string() function returns the XML parser error explanation for the given error code as generated by xml_get_error_code() on success; and on failure, it returns FALSE.

PHP Version

First introduced in core PHP 4, the PHP XML Parser xml_error_string() function continues to function easily in PHP 5, PHP 7, and PHP 8.

Example 1

Here is the basic example of the XML Parser xml_error_string() function to see the working of this function.

<?php
   // Define error code here
   $err_code = 9;

   // Get error description
   $err_dis = xml_error_string($err_code);

   // Display the error description
   echo "Error Code: $err_code\n";
   echo "Error Description: $err_dis\n";
?>

Output

Here is the outcome of the following code −

Error Code: 9
Error Description: Invalid character

Example 2

This application shows how to use xml_error_string() and xml_get_error_code() to provide errors found during XML processing.

<?php
   // Create an XML parser
   $parser = xml_parser_create();

   // Invalid XML string (unclosed tag)
   $xmlData = "<root><tag>Sample</root>";

   // Attempt to parse the XML
   if (!xml_parse($parser, $xmlData, true)) {
      // Get the error code from the parser
      $err_code = xml_get_error_code($parser);

      // Get the error description
      $err_dis = xml_error_string($err_code);

      echo "Error Code: $err_code\n";
      echo "Error Description: $err_dis\n";
   }

   // Free the parser
   xml_parser_free($parser);
?> 

Output

This will generate the below output −

Error Code: 76
Error Description: Mismatched tag

Example 3

This program extends the previous example by showing how to display the error along with the line and column where it took place.

<?php
   // Create an XML parser
   $parser = xml_parser_create();

   // Invalid XML string
   $xmlData = "<note><to>User</to><from>Admin</from></note>>";

   // Parse the XML
   if (!xml_parse($parser, $xmlData, true)) {
      // Get the error code
      $errorCode = xml_get_error_code($parser);

      // Get the error description
      $errorDescription = xml_error_string($errorCode);

      // Get line and column where the error occurred
      $errorLine = xml_get_current_line_number($parser);
      $errorColumn = xml_get_current_column_number($parser);

      echo "Error Code: $errorCode\n";
      echo "Error Description: $errorDescription\n";
      echo "Error Line: $errorLine, Column: $errorColumn\n";
   }

   // Free the parser
   xml_parser_free($parser);
?> 

Output

This will create the below output −

Error Code: 5
Error Description: Invalid document end
Error Line: 1, Column: 45