How to get values of xml elements?

Question

I have some xml data and I am trying to access some elements. The structure of data is as below (using print_r($data)). I can get $data->{\'parent\'}->title

Answer 1

Do not use print_r() to inspect a SimpleXMLElement. Instead, just look at the XML. Children are accessed using the object notation ->name and attributes are accessed using the array notation ['name'].

In your case, I guess the correct way to access this attribute would be

$data->parent->link[0]['href']

Answer 2

Check out Accessing @attribute from SimpleXML, especially the comment on the misleading var_dump (print_r) output of SimpleXML Objects.

That said, IIRC the following should work in your example:

$data->{'parent'}->link[0]['href']

(That is, the attributes can be accessed using standard array notation - this definitely works on single elements, not sure if it works with the additional index into the element collection.)