# PHP XML Handling (SimpleXML)
XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is a markup language that defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. PHP's SimpleXML extension provides a very simple and easily usable toolset to convert XML to an object that can be processed with normal property selectors and array iterators.
---
## 1. Loading XML
You can load XML from a string or a file.
### From String
```php
$myXMLData =
"
Tove
Jani
Reminder
Don't forget me this weekend!
";
$xml = simplexml_load_string($myXMLData) or die("Error: Cannot create object");
print_r($xml);
```
### From File
```php
$xml = simplexml_load_file("note.xml") or die("Error: Cannot create object");
print_r($xml);
```
## 2. Accessing Elements
You can access element values by using the element name as a property of the object.
```php
echo $xml->to;
echo $xml->from;
```
## 3. Looping Through Elements
If an element contains multiple children with the same name, you can loop through them.
```php
foreach($xml->children() as $child) {
echo $child->getName() . ": " . $child . "
";
}
```
## 4. Getting Attribute Values
Attributes are accessed using array notation.
```php
/* */
echo $xml->book[0]['category'];
```
[[programming/php/php]]