Mixing processing instructions and element nodes gives inconsistent results in SimpleXML
Open
Nobody has claimed this yet.
Bug
Extension: simplexml
Status: Verified
- Dominant language
- C
- Stars
- 40.4k
- Forks
- 8.1k
- Avg merge
- 2d 13h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 96
Description
Description
The following code:
<?php
$xml = <<<XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<container>
<x/><?hello world?>
</container>
XML;
$sxe = simplexml_load_string($xml);
var_dump($sxe->children());
// x and hello swapped
$xml = <<<XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<container>
<?hello world?><x/>
</container>
XML;
$sxe = simplexml_load_string($xml);
var_dump($sxe->children());
Resulted in this output:
object(SimpleXMLElement)#2 (2) {
["x"]=>
object(SimpleXMLElement)#4 (0) {
}
["hello"]=>
object(SimpleXMLElement)#5 (0) {
}
}
object(SimpleXMLElement)#1 (1) {
["x"]=>
object(SimpleXMLElement)#5 (0) {
}
}
But I expected this output instead:
object(SimpleXMLElement)#2 (2) {
["x"]=>
object(SimpleXMLElement)#4 (0) {
}
["hello"]=>
object(SimpleXMLElement)#5 (0) {
}
}
object(SimpleXMLElement)#1 (1) {
["hello"]=>
object(SimpleXMLElement)#%d (0) {
}
["x"]=>
object(SimpleXMLElement)#%d (0) {
}
}
PHP Version
PHP 8.1+
Operating System
Linux
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start with the two PHP reproductions in the issue and inspect the SimpleXML implementation and its existing tests for children() ordering. Compare processing-instruction and element-node handling in both input orders, then add coverage showing the expected order and run the relevant SimpleXML tests.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- php
- Domain
- backend
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100