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<h1 class="refname">SimpleXMLElement::children</h1>
<p class="verinfo">(PHP 5 >= 5.0.1)</p><p class="refpurpose"><span class="refname">SimpleXMLElement::children</span> — <span class="dc-title">Finds children of given node</span></p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 description" id="refsect1-simplexmlelement.children-description">
<h3 class="title">Description</h3>
<div class="methodsynopsis dc-description">
<span class="modifier">public</span> <span class="type"><a href="class.simplexmlelement.html" class="type SimpleXMLElement">SimpleXMLElement</a></span> <span class="methodname"><strong>SimpleXMLElement::children</strong></span>
([ <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">string</span> <code class="parameter">$ns</code></span>
[, <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">bool</span> <code class="parameter">$is_prefix</code><span class="initializer"> = false</span></span>
]] )</div>
<p class="para rdfs-comment">
This method finds the children of an element. The result follows normal
iteration rules.
</p>
<blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>: <span class="simpara">SimpleXML has made a rule of adding
iterative properties to most methods. They cannot be viewed using <span class="function"><a href="function.var-dump.html" class="function">var_dump()</a></span>
or anything else which can examine objects.</span></p></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 parameters" id="refsect1-simplexmlelement.children-parameters">
<h3 class="title">Parameters</h3>
<p class="para">
<dl>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">ns</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
An <acronym title="eXtensible Markup Language">XML</acronym> namespace.
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">is_prefix</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
If <em><code class="parameter">is_prefix</code></em> is <strong><code>TRUE</code></strong>,
<em><code class="parameter">ns</code></em> will be regarded as a prefix. If <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong>,
<em><code class="parameter">ns</code></em> will be regarded as a namespace
<acronym title="Uniform Resource Locator">URL</acronym>.
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
</dl>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 returnvalues" id="refsect1-simplexmlelement.children-returnvalues">
<h3 class="title">Return Values</h3>
<p class="para">
Returns a <a href="class.simplexmlelement.html" class="classname">SimpleXMLElement</a> element, whether the node
has children or not.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 changelog" id="refsect1-simplexmlelement.children-changelog">
<h3 class="title">Changelog</h3>
<p class="para">
<table class="doctable informaltable">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Version</th>
<th>Description</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="tbody">
<tr>
<td>5.2.0</td>
<td>
The optional parameter <em><code class="parameter">is_prefix</code></em> was added.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 examples" id="refsect1-simplexmlelement.children-examples">
<h3 class="title">Examples</h3>
<p class="para">
<div class="example" id="example-5501">
<p><strong>Example #1 Traversing a <em>children()</em> pseudo-array</strong></p>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br />$xml </span><span style="color: #007700">= new </span><span style="color: #0000BB">SimpleXMLElement</span><span style="color: #007700">(<br /></span><span style="color: #DD0000">'<person><br /> <child role="son"><br /> <child role="daughter"/><br /> </child><br /> <child role="daughter"><br /> <child role="son"><br /> <child role="son"/><br /> </child><br /> </child><br /></person>'</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /><br />foreach (</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$xml</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">children</span><span style="color: #007700">() as </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$second_gen</span><span style="color: #007700">) {<br /> echo </span><span style="color: #DD0000">' The person begot a ' </span><span style="color: #007700">. </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$second_gen</span><span style="color: #007700">[</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'role'</span><span style="color: #007700">];<br /><br /> foreach (</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$second_gen</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">children</span><span style="color: #007700">() as </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$third_gen</span><span style="color: #007700">) {<br /> echo </span><span style="color: #DD0000">' who begot a ' </span><span style="color: #007700">. </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$third_gen</span><span style="color: #007700">[</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'role'</span><span style="color: #007700">] . </span><span style="color: #DD0000">';'</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /><br /> foreach (</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$third_gen</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">children</span><span style="color: #007700">() as </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$fourth_gen</span><span style="color: #007700">) {<br /> echo </span><span style="color: #DD0000">' and that ' </span><span style="color: #007700">. </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$third_gen</span><span style="color: #007700">[</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'role'</span><span style="color: #007700">] .<br /> </span><span style="color: #DD0000">' begot a ' </span><span style="color: #007700">. </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$fourth_gen</span><span style="color: #007700">[</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'role'</span><span style="color: #007700">];<br /> }<br /> }<br />}<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
<div class="example-contents"><p>The above example will output:</p></div>
<div class="example-contents screen">
<div class="cdata"><pre>
The person begot a son who begot a daughter; The person
begot a daughter who begot a son; and that son begot a son
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="example" id="example-5502">
<p><strong>Example #2 Using namespaces</strong></p>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br />$xml </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'<example xmlns:foo="my.foo.urn"><br /> <foo:a>Apple</foo:a><br /> <foo:b>Banana</foo:b><br /> <c>Cherry</c><br /></example>'</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$sxe </span><span style="color: #007700">= new </span><span style="color: #0000BB">SimpleXMLElement</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$xml</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$kids </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$sxe</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">children</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'foo'</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">var_dump</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">count</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$kids</span><span style="color: #007700">));<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$kids </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$sxe</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">children</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'foo'</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">TRUE</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">var_dump</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">count</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$kids</span><span style="color: #007700">));<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$kids </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$sxe</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">children</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'my.foo.urn'</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">var_dump</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">count</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$kids</span><span style="color: #007700">));<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$kids </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$sxe</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">children</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'my.foo.urn'</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">TRUE</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">var_dump</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">count</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$kids</span><span style="color: #007700">));<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$kids </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$sxe</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">children</span><span style="color: #007700">();<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">var_dump</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">count</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$kids</span><span style="color: #007700">));<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
<div class="example-contents screen">
<div class="cdata"><pre>
int(0)
int(2)
int(2)
int(0)
int(1)
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 notes" id="refsect1-simplexmlelement.children-notes">
<h3 class="title">Notes</h3>
<p class="simpara">
<span class="methodname"><strong>SimpleXMLElement::children()</strong></span> returns a node
object no matter if the current node has children or not. Use
<span class="function"><a href="function.count.html" class="function">count()</a></span> on the return value to see if there are any
children. As of PHP 5.3.0, <span class="methodname"><a href="simplexmlelement.count.html" class="methodname">SimpleXMLElement::count()</a></span>
may be used instead.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 seealso" id="refsect1-simplexmlelement.children-seealso">
<h3 class="title">See Also</h3>
<p class="para">
<ul class="simplelist">
<li class="member"> <span class="methodname"><a href="simplexmlelement.count.html" class="methodname" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">SimpleXMLElement::count()</a> - Counts the children of an element</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.count.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">count()</a> - Count all elements in an array, or something in an object</span></li>
</ul>
</p>
</div>
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