XML Helper

The XML Helper file contains functions that assist in working with XML data.

Loading this Helper

This helper is loaded using the following code


Available Functions

The following functions are available:

xml_convert($str[, $protect_all = FALSE])
  • $str (string) – the text string to convert
  • $protect_all (bool) – Whether to protect all content that looks like a potential entity instead of just numbered entities, e.g. &foo;

XML-converted string

Return type:


Takes a string as input and converts the following reserved XML characters to entities:

  • Ampersands: &
  • Less than and greater than characters: < >
  • Single and double quotes: ‘ “
  • Dashes: -

This function ignores ampersands if they are part of existing numbered character entities, e.g. &#123;. Example:

$string = '<p>Here is a paragraph & an entity (&#123;).</p>';
$string = xml_convert($string);
echo $string;


&lt;p&gt;Here is a paragraph &amp; an entity (&#123;).&lt;/p&gt;