Remove empty tags from a XML with PHP

Question

Question

How can I remove empty xml tags in PHP?

Example:

 $value1 = \"2\";
 $value2 = \"4\";
 $value3 = \"\";

 xml = \'

        

Answer 1

You can use XPath with the predicate not(node()) to select all elements that do not have child nodes.

preserveWhiteSpace = false;
$doc->loadxml('
    2
    4
    
    4
    
    4
    
');

$xpath = new DOMXPath($doc);

foreach( $xpath->query('//*[not(node())]') as $node ) {
    $node->parentNode->removeChild($node);
}

$doc->formatOutput = true;
echo $doc->savexml();

prints

  2
  4
  4
  4