#30972 [NEW]: Casting an empty single node SimpleXML object to boolean returns false

From: dtorop932 at gmail dot com Operating system: GNU/Linux 2.4.27 PHP version: 5CVS-2004-12-03 (dev) PHP Bug Type: SimpleXML related Bug description: Casting an empty single node SimpleXML object to boolean returns false Description: ------------ According to http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.types.boolean.php it seems that in PHP 5 all objects should return TRUE when cast to boolean. But if one creates a SimpleXML object from the string '<goodxml/>', then casts it to boolean, the result is FALSE. As a comparison, running DOMDocument::loadxml() on "<goodxml/>" and casting the result to boolean returns TRUE. This is important if one is doing what seems to be a quick test for failure of SimpleXML parsing, e.g. the following doesn't work as expected: if (!simplexml_load_string($anyxml)) { return FALSE; // this always executes, even for good XML } Reproduce code: --------------- <?php foreach (array('badxml', '<goodxml/>', '<goodxml>CONTENT</goodxml>') as $xml) { $dom = @simplexml_load_string($xml); print "\n\$dom from '$xml'\n"; print ' ((boolean) $dom) = '; var_dump((boolean) $dom); } ?> Expected result: ---------------- $dom from 'badxml' ((boolean) $dom) = bool(false) $dom from '<goodxml/>' ((boolean) $dom) = bool(true) $dom from '<goodxml>CONTENT</goodxml>' ((boolean) $dom) = bool(true) Actual result: -------------- $dom from 'badxml' ((boolean) $dom) = bool(false) $dom from '<goodxml/>' ((boolean) $dom) = bool(false) $dom from '<goodxml>CONTENT</goodxml>' ((boolean) $dom) = bool(true) -- Edit bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=30972&edit=1 -- Try a CVS snapshot (php4): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=30972&r=trysnapshot4 Try a CVS snapshot (php5.0): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=30972&r=trysnapshot50 Try a CVS snapshot (php5.1): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=30972&r=trysnapshot51 Fixed in CVS: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=30972&r=fixedcvs Fixed in release: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=30972&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=30972&r=needtrace Need Reproduce Script: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=30972&r=needscript Try newer version: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=30972&r=oldversion Not developer issue: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=30972&r=support Expected behavior: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=30972&r=notwrong Not enough info: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=30972&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=30972&r=submittedtwice register_globals: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=30972&r=globals PHP 3 support discontinued: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=30972&r=php3 Daylight Savings: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=30972&r=dst IIS Stability: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=30972&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=30972&r=gnused Floating point limitations: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=30972&r=float MySQL Configuration Error: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=30972&r=mysqlcfg