How to reach till the desired node in xpath result? - php

Question

As I have mentioned in question title, I am trying below code to reach till the desired node in xpath result.
<?php
$xpath = '//*[#id="topsection"]/div[3]/div[2]/div[1]/div/div[1]';
$html = new DOMDocument();
#$html->loadHTMLFile('http://www.flipkart.com/samsung-galaxy-ace-s5830/p/itmdfndpgz4nbuft');
$xml = simplexml_import_dom($html);
if (!$xml) {
echo 'Error while parsing the document';
exit;
}
$source = $xml->xpath($xpath);
echo "<pre>";
print_r($source);
?>
this is the source code. I am using to scrap price from a ecommerce.
it works it gives below output :
Array
(
[0] => SimpleXMLElement Object
(
[#attributes] => Array
(
[class] => line
)
[div] => SimpleXMLElement Object
(
[#attributes] => Array
(
[class] => prices
[itemprop] => offers
[itemscope] =>
[itemtype] => http://schema.org/Offer
)
[span] => Rs. 10300
[div] => (Prices inclusive of taxes)
[meta] => Array
(
[0] => SimpleXMLElement Object
(
[#attributes] => Array
(
[itemprop] => price
[content] => Rs. 10300
)
)
[1] => SimpleXMLElement Object
(
[#attributes] => Array
(
[itemprop] => priceCurrency
[content] => INR
)
)
)
)
)
)
Now How to reach till directly [content] => Rs. 10300.
I tried:
echo $source[0]['div']['meta']['#attributes']['content']
but it doesn't work.

Answer 1

Try echo (String) $source[0]->div->meta[0]['content'];.
Basically, when you see an element is an object, you can't access it like an array, you need to use object -> approach.

Answer 2

The print_r of a SimpleXMLElement does not show the real object structure. So you need to have some knowledge:
$source[0]->div->meta['content']
| | | `- attribute acccess
| | `- element access, defaults to the first one
| `- element access, defaults to the first one
|
standard array access to get
the first SimpleXMLElement of xpath()
operation
That example then is (with your address) the following (print_r again, Demo):
SimpleXMLElement Object
(
[0] => Rs. 10300
)
Cast it to string in case you want the text-value:
$rs = (string) $source[0]->div->meta['content'];
However you can already directly access that node with the xpath expression (if that is a single case).
Learn more on how to access a SimpleXMLElement in the Basic SimpleXML usage ExamplesDocs.