Bug->Doc #73670 [Opn]: simplexml_load_string returns `FALSE` but does not set error (for empty strings

Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=73670&edit=1 ID: 73670 Updated by: requinix@php.net Reported by: zerkms at zerkms dot ru Summary: simplexml_load_string returns FALSE but does not set error (for empty strings Status: Open -Type: Bug +Type: Documentation Problem Package: SimpleXML related Operating System: Irrelevant PHP Version: Irrelevant Block user comment: N Private report: N New Comment: libxml2 does not set error information if the input string is empty. It would be easy to update the Return Values to indicate that parsing an empty string returns false with no additional error messages. Error information does not clear automatically. Since no new errors were added, libxml_get_last_error() will return the error from the previous call. Use libxml_clear_errors() to avoid confusion. Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2016-12-07 01:18:41] zerkms at zerkms dot ru Description: ------------ simplexml_load_string() documentation states > Returns an object of class SimpleXMLElement with properties containing the data held within the > xml document, or FALSE on failure. So I expect if FALSE is returned - it was failed to parse xml, so the libxml_get_last_error returns the actual error. What happens instead - for the empty string the simplexml_load_string returns false and libxml_get_last_error returns previous non actual error. It should be either a documentation additionally clarify the case, or the implementation behave accordingly. Test script: --------------- $previous = libxml_use_internal_errors(true); $doc = simplexml_load_string('foo'); libxml_use_internal_errors($previous); $result = libxml_get_last_error(); $previous = libxml_use_internal_errors(true); $doc = simplexml_load_string(''); libxml_use_internal_errors($previous); $result = libxml_get_last_error(); var_dump($doc, $result); Expected result: ---------------- bool(false) bool(false) Actual result: -------------- bool(false) object(LibXMLError)#2 (6) { ["level"]=> int(3) ["code"]=> int(4) ["column"]=> int(1) ["message"]=> string(34) "Start tag expected, '<' not found " ["file"]=> string(0) "" ["line"]=> int(1) } ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=73670&edit=1