note 87141 added to function.simplexml-element-xpath

Matt's comment is rather helpful, but that problem is not a fault of PHP, but a general problem with XPath and default namespaces. See e.g. http://www.edankert.com/defaultnamespaces.html and http://plasmasturm.org/log/259/ . If your XML doc has a default namespace (xmlns="some_namespace") and you want to use xpath, you have to register a prefix for the default namespace and use that prefix in all of your xpath expressions. <?php $xml_doc = <<<XML <?xml version='1.0'?> <!-- without namespace: --> <!-- <document> --> <!-- with default namespace: --> <document xmlns="uri:some_namespace"> <title>Forty What?</title> <from>Joe</from> <to>Jane</to> <body> I know that's the answer -- but what's the question? </body> </document> XML; $xml = simplexml_load_string($xml_doc); $namespaces = $xml->getNamespaces(true); if(isset($namespaces[""])) // if you have a default namespace { // register a prefix for that default namespace: $xml->registerXPathNamespace("default", $namespaces[""]); // and use that prefix in all of your xpath expressions: $xpath_to_document = "//default:document"; } else $xpath_to_document = "//document"; $document = $xml->xpath($xpath_to_document); print_r($document); ?> ---- Server IP: 212.124.37.9 Probable Submitter: 80.136.66.107 ---- Manual Page -- http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.simplexml-element-xpath.php Edit -- https://master.php.net/note/edit/87141 Del: integrated -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/87141/integrated Del: useless -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/87141/useless Del: bad code -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/87141/bad+code Del: spam -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/87141/spam Del: non-english -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/87141/non-english Del: in docs -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/87141/in+docs Del: other reasons-- https://master.php.net/note/delete/87141 Reject -- https://master.php.net/note/reject/87141 Search -- https://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php