Question

I have a variable $foo with this content:

object(SimpleXMLElement)#969 (2) {
  ["@attributes"]=>
  array(1) {
    ["type"]=>
    string(4) "html"
  }
  [0]=>
  string(13) "Viernes Santo"
}

I’m trying to get the content “Viernes Santo” but I can’t..I tried $foo[0] but that returns the same content..any idea?

Answer 1

The SimpleXMLElement behaves like an object which is why people get confused like you did, but it’s actually a language construct which is a little different. The elements and their data must be typecast to the data type you want to work with because by default everything returned from a SimpleXMLElement function is a SimpleXMLElement which if not typecast by a function, must be directly typecast.

If you call:

echo $foo; //typecast to a string automatically
$myVar = $foo; //SimpleXMLElement
$myVar = (string)$foo; //typecast to a string