PHP Simple HTML DOM Parser Manual - PeratX/SimpleHtmlDom GitHub Wiki

Contents

Quick Start

Get HTML elements

// Create DOM from URL or file
$html = SimpleHtmlDom::initDomFromFile('http://www.google.com/');

// Find all images 
foreach($html->find('img') as $element) 
       Logger::info($element->src);

// Find all links 
foreach($html->find('a') as $element) 
       Logger::info($element->href);

Modify HTML elements

// Create DOM from string
$html = SimpleHtmlDom::initDomFromString('<div id="hello">Hello</div><div id="world">World</div>');

$html->find('div', 1)->class = 'bar';

$html->find('div[id=hello]', 0)->innerText = 'foo';

Logger::info($html); // Output: <div id="hello">foo</div><div id="world" class="bar">World</div>

Extract contents from HTML

// Dump contents (without tags) from HTML
Logger::info(SimpleHtmlDom::initDomFromFile('http://www.google.com/')->plaintext);

Scraping Slashdot!

// Create DOM from URL
$html = SimpleHtmlDom::initDomFromFile('http://slashdot.org/');

// Find all article blocks
foreach($html->find('div.article') as $article) {
    $item['title']   = $article->find('div.title', 0)->plaintext;
    $item['intro']   = $article->find('div.intro', 0)->plaintext;
    $item['details'] = $article->find('div.details', 0)->plaintext;
    $articles[] = $item;
}

print_r($articles);

How to create HTML DOM object?

Quick way

// Create a DOM object from a string
$html = SimpleHtmlDom::initDomFromString('<html><body>Hello!</body></html>');

// Create a DOM object from a URL
$html = SimpleHtmlDom::initDomFromFile('http://www.google.com/');

// Create a DOM object from a HTML file
$html = SimpleHtmlDom::initDomFromFile('test.htm');

Object-oriented way

// Create a DOM object
$html = new SimpleHtmlDom();

// Load HTML from a string
$html->load('<html><body>Hello!</body></html>');

// Load HTML from a URL 
$html->loadFile('http://www.google.com/');

// Load HTML from a HTML file 
$html->loadFile('test.htm');

How to find HTML elements?

Basics

// Find all anchors, returns a array of element objects
$ret = $html->find('a');

// Find (N)th anchor, returns element object or null if not found (zero based)
$ret = $html->find('a', 0);

// Find lastest anchor, returns element object or null if not found (zero based)
$ret = $html->find('a', -1); 

// Find all <div> with the id attribute
$ret = $html->find('div[id]');

// Find all <div> which attribute id=foo
$ret = $html->find('div[id=foo]');

Advanced

// Find all element which id=foo
$ret = $html->find('#foo');

// Find all element which class=foo
$ret = $html->find('.foo');

// Find all element has attribute id
$ret = $html->find('*[id]'); 

// Find all anchors and images 
$ret = $html->find('a, img'); 

// Find all anchors and images with the "title" attribute
$ret = $html->find('a[title], img[title]');

Descendant selectors

// Find all <li> in <ul> 
$es = $html->find('ul li');

// Find Nested <div> tags
$es = $html->find('div div div'); 

// Find all <td> in <table> which class=hello 
$es = $html->find('table.hello td');

// Find all td tags with attribite align=center in table tags 
$es = $html->find(''table td[align=center]');

Nested selectors

// Find all <li> in <ul> 
foreach($html->find('ul') as $ul) 
{
       foreach($ul->find('li') as $li) 
       {
             // do something...
       }
}

// Find first <li> in first <ul> 
$e = $html->find('ul', 0)->find('li', 0);

Attribute Filters

Supports these operators in attribute selectors:

Filter Description
[attribute] Matches elements that have the specified attribute.
[!attribute] Matches elements that don't have the specified attribute.
[attribute=value] Matches elements that have the specified attribute with a certain value.
[attribute!=value] Matches elements that don't have the specified attribute with a certain value.
[attribute^=value] Matches elements that have the specified attribute and it starts with a certain value.
[attribute$=value] Matches elements that have the specified attribute and it ends with a certain value.
[attribute*=value] Matches elements that have the specified attribute and it contains a certain value.

Text & Comments

// Find all text blocks 
$es = $html->find('text');

// Find all comment (<!--...-->) blocks 
$es = $html->find('comment');

How to access the HTML element's attributes?

Get, Set and Remove attributes

// Get a attribute ( If the attribute is non-value attribute (eg. checked, selected...), it will returns true or false)
$value = $e->href;

// Set a attribute(If the attribute is non-value attribute (eg. checked, selected...), set it's value as true or false)
$e->href = 'my link';

// Remove a attribute, set it's value as null! 
$e->href = null;

// Determine whether a attribute exist? 
if(isset($e->href)) 
        Logger::info('href exist!');

Magic attributes

// Example
$html = SimpleHtmlDom::initDomFromString("<div>foo <b>bar</b></div>"); 
$e = $html->find("div", 0);

Logger::info($e->tag); // Returns: " div"
Logger::info($e->outerText); // Returns: " <div>foo <b>bar</b></div>"
Logger::info($e->innerText); // Returns: " foo <b>bar</b>"
Logger::info($e->plaintext); // Returns: " foo bar"
Attribute Name Usage
$e->tag Read or write the tag name of element.
$e->outerText Read or write the outer HTML text of element.
$e->innerText Read or write the inner HTML text of element.
$e->plaintext Read or write the plain text of element.

Tips

// Extract contents from HTML 
Logger::info($html->plaintext);

// Wrap a element
$e->outerText = '<div class="wrap">' . $e->outerText . '<div>';

// Remove a element, set it's outerText as an empty string 
$e->outerText = '';

// Append a element
$e->outerText = $e->outerText . '<div>foo<div>';

// Insert a element
$e->outerText = '<div>foo<div>' . $e->outerText;

How to traverse the DOM tree?

Background Knowledge

// If you are not so familiar with HTML DOM, check this link to learn more... 

// Example
Logger::info($html->find("#div1", 0)->children(1)->children(1)->children(2)->id);
// or 
Logger::info($html->getElementById("div1")->childNodes(1)->childNodes(1)->childNodes(2)->getAttribute('id'));

Traverse the DOM tree

Type Method Description
mixed $e->children([int $index]) Returns the Nth child object if index is set, otherwise return an array of children.
element $e->parent() Returns the parent of element.
element $e->firstChild() Returns the first child of element, or null if not found.
element $e->lastChild() Returns the last child of element, or null if not found.
element $e->nextSibling() Returns the next sibling of element, or null if not found.
element $e->prevSibling() Returns the previous sibling of element, or null if not found.

How to dump contents of DOM object?

Quick way

// Dumps the internal DOM tree back into string 
$str = $html;

// Print it!
Logger::info($html);

Object-oriented way

// Dumps the internal DOM tree back into string 
$str = $html->save();

// Dumps the internal DOM tree back into a file 
$html->save('result.htm');

How to customize the parsing behavior?

Callback function

// Write a function with parameter "$element"
public function myCallback(SimpleHtmlDomNode $element) {
        // Hide all <b> tags 
        if ($element->tag=='b')
                $element->outerText = '';
} 

// Register the callback function with it's function name
$html->setCallback([$this, "myCallback"]);

// Callback function will be invoked while dumping
Logger::info($html);
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