PHP not have a function for XML-safe entity decode? Not have some xml_entity_decode?
This question is creating, time-by-time, a "false answer" (see answers). This is perhaps because people not pay attention, and because there are NO ANSWER: there are a lack of PHP build-in solution.
... So, lets repeat my workaround (that is NOT an answer!) to not create more confusion:
The best workaround
Pay attention:
- The function
xml_entity_decode()below is the best (over any other) workaround. - The function below is not an answer to the present question, it is only a workwaround.
function xml_entity_decode($s) {
// illustrating how a (hypothetical) PHP-build-in-function MUST work
static $XENTITIES = array('&','>','<');
static $XSAFENTITIES = array('#_x_amp#;','#_x_gt#;','#_x_lt#;');
$s = str_replace($XENTITIES,$XSAFENTITIES,$s);
$s = html_entity_decode($s, ENT_HTML5|ENT_NOQUOTES, 'UTF-8'); // PHP 5.3+
$s = str_replace($XSAFENTITIES,$XENTITIES,$s);
return $s;
}
To test and to demonstrate that you have a better solution, please test first with this simple benckmark:
$countBchMk_MAX=1000;
$xml = file_get_contents('sample1.xml'); // BIG and complex XML string
$start_time = microtime(TRUE);
for($countBchMk=0; $countBchMk<$countBchMk_MAX; $countBchMk++){
$A = xml_entity_decode($xml); // 0.0002
/* 0.0014
$doc = new DOMDocument;
$doc->loadXML($xml, LIBXML_DTDLOAD | LIBXML_NOENT);
$doc->encoding = 'UTF-8';
$A = $doc->saveXML();
*/
}
$end_time = microtime(TRUE);
echo "\n<h1>END $countBchMk_MAX BENCKMARKs WITH ",
($end_time - $start_time)/$countBchMk_MAX,
" seconds</h1>";
Use the DTD when loading the JATS XML document, as it will define any mapping from named entities to Unicode characters, then set the encoding to UTF-8 when saving:
$doc = new DOMDocument;
$doc->load($inputFile, LIBXML_DTDLOAD | LIBXML_NOENT);
$doc->encoding = 'UTF-8';
$doc->save($outputFile);
I had the same problem because someone used HTML templates to create XML, instead of using SimpleXML. sigh... Anyway, I came up with the following. It's not as fast as yours, but it's not an order of magnitude slower, and it is less hacky. Yours will inadvertently convert #_x_amp#; to $amp;, however unlikely its presence in the source XML.
Note: I'm assuming default encoding is UTF-8
// Search for named entities (strings like "&abc1;").
echo preg_replace_callback('#&[A-Z0-9]+;#i', function ($matches) {
// Decode the entity and re-encode as XML entities. This means "&"
// will remain "&" whereas "€" becomes "€".
return htmlentities(html_entity_decode($matches[0]), ENT_XML1);
}, "<Foo>€&foo Ç</Foo>") . "\n";
/* <Foo>€&foo Ç</Foo> */
Also, if you want to replace special characters with numbered entities (in case you don't want a UTF-8 XML), you can easily add a function to the above code:
// Search for named entities (strings like "&abc1;").
$xml_utf8 = preg_replace_callback('#&[A-Z0-9]+;#i', function ($matches) {
// Decode the entity and re-encode as XML entities. This means "&"
// will remain "&" whereas "€" becomes "€".
return htmlentities(html_entity_decode($matches[0]), ENT_XML1);
}, "<Foo>€&foo Ç</Foo>") . "\n";
echo mb_encode_numericentity($xml_utf8, [0x80, 0xffff, 0, 0xffff]);
/* <Foo>€&foo Ç</Foo> */
In your case you want it the other way around. Encode numbered entities as UTF-8:
// Search for named entities (strings like "&abc1;").
$xml_utf8 = preg_replace_callback('#&[A-Z0-9]+;#i', function ($matches) {
// Decode the entity and re-encode as XML entities. This means "&"
// will remain "&" whereas "€" becomes "€".
return htmlentities(html_entity_decode($matches[0]), ENT_XML1);
}, "<Foo>€&foo Ç</Foo>") . "\n";
// Encodes (uncaught) numbered entities to UTF-8.
echo mb_decode_numericentity($xml_utf8, [0x80, 0xffff, 0, 0xffff]);
/* <Foo>€&foo Ç</Foo> */
Benchmark
I've added a benchmark for good measure. This also demonstrates the flaw in your solution for clarity. Below is the input string I used.
<Foo>€&foo Ç é #_x_amp#; ∬</Foo>
Your method
php -r '$q=["&",">","<"];$y=["#_x_amp#;","#_x_gt#;","#_x_lt#;"]; $s=microtime(1); for(;++$i<1000000;)$r=str_replace($y,$q,html_entity_decode(str_replace($q,$y,"<Foo>€&foo Ç é #_x_amp#; ∬</Foo>"),ENT_HTML5|ENT_NOQUOTES)); $t=microtime(1)-$s; echo"$r\n=====\nTime taken: $t\n";'
<Foo>€&foo Ç é & ∬</Foo>
=====
Time taken: 2.0397531986237
My method
php -r '$s=microtime(1); for(;++$i<1000000;)$r=preg_replace_callback("#&[A-Z0-9]+;#i",function($m){return htmlentities(html_entity_decode($m[0]),ENT_XML1);},"<Foo>€&foo Ç é #_x_amp#; ∬</Foo>"); $t=microtime(1)-$s; echo"$r\n=====\nTime taken: $t\n";'
<Foo>€&foo Ç é #_x_amp#; ∬</Foo>
=====
Time taken: 4.045273065567
My method (with unicode to numbered entity):
php -r '$s=microtime(1); for(;++$i<1000000;)$r=mb_encode_numericentity(preg_replace_callback("#&[A-Z0-9]+;#i",function($m){return htmlentities(html_entity_decode($m[0]),ENT_XML1);},"<Foo>€&foo Ç é #_x_amp#; ∬</Foo>"),[0x80,0xffff,0,0xffff]); $t=microtime(1)-$s; echo"$r\n=====\nTime taken: $t\n";'
<Foo>€&foo Ç é #_x_amp#; ∬</Foo>
=====
Time taken: 5.4407880306244
My method (with numbered entity to unicode):
php -r '$s=microtime(1); for(;++$i<1000000;)$r=mb_decode_numericentity(preg_replace_callback("#&[A-Z0-9]+;#i",function($m){return htmlentities(html_entity_decode($m[0]),ENT_XML1);},"<Foo>€&foo Ç é #_x_amp#;</Foo>"),[0x80,0xffff,0,0xffff]); $t=microtime(1)-$s; echo"$r\n=====\nTime taken: $t\n";'
<Foo>€&foo Ç é #_x_amp#; ∬</Foo>
=====
Time taken: 5.5400078296661