How Can I Generate Well-Formatted XML with PHP?

PHP XML: How to Output a Well-Formatted Structure

When generating XML documents using PHP, it's desirable to produce a structured and readable output. However, by default, PHP's XML processing libraries may not provide the desired formatting. This article provides a solution to output well-formatted XML, including indentation and UTF-8 encoding.

Consider the following code snippet:

$doc = new DomDocument('1.0');
// ...
$xml_string = $doc->saveXML();
echo $xml_string;

Executing this code may result in a poorly formatted XML string, with elements appearing on a single line:

<xml><child>ee</child></xml>

To improve the formatting and indentation, adjust the XML document's properties as follows:

$doc->preserveWhiteSpace = false;
$doc->formatOutput = true;

$xml_string = $doc->saveXML();

This will produce a well-indented XML structure:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <error>
    <a>eee</a>
    <b>sd</b>
    <c>df</c>
  </error>
  <!-- ... -->
</root>

Additionally, to ensure UTF-8 encoding, you can specify the encoding during the initialization of the DOMDocument:

$doc = new DomDocument('1.0', 'UTF-8');

By following these steps, you can generate well-formatted and UTF-8 encoded XML documents using PHP's XML processing capabilities.

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