DOMNode::cloneNode

    (PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

    DOMNode::cloneNode — Clones a node

    Description

    public DOMNode::cloneNode(bool $deep = false): DOMNode|false

    Creates a copy of the node.

    Parameters

    deep

    Indicates whether to copy all descendant nodes. This parameter is defaulted to false.

    Return Values

    The cloned node.

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    User Contributed Notes 6 notes

    up
    8
    frame at dynamiccreated dot de
    12 years ago
    Remeber that DOMNode always needs a reference to a parent node or DOMDocument.

    For example, if you try to clone a node - copy all children - and overwrite or delete the variable which holds the cloned node - all children will loose any reference and getting invalid.

    This will cause a nice message like "Couldn't... node no longer exists" if you have luck. In most cases PHP only gives you the poor information "Couldn't fetch DOM[...]" which makes hard to find out whats going on, depending on the current operation.
    up
    5
    [montana] at [percepticon] dot [com]
    15 years ago
    <?php

    //@oliver thanks for example source...

    /*
    cloneNode(false) does not omit
    Attributes of cloned node,
    to achieve this an iteration is required.
    this is probably less efficient
    than merely creating a new
    node from the desired nodeName
    but in some cases could be useful.

    use case:

    omit subnodes and attributes of
    secured portions of an xml document
    without altering expected general structure;
    */
    //xml to use

    $file="<?xml version='1.0'?>
    <book type='paperback'>
    <title name='MAP'>Red Nails</title>
    <price>$12.99</price>
    <author>
    <name first='Robert' middle='E' last='Howard'/>
    <birthdate disco='false' nirvana='definitely'>
    9/21/1977
    <month title='september' />
    </birthdate>
    </author>
    <author>
    <name first='Arthur' middle='Mc' last='Kayn'/>
    </author>
    </book>"    ;

    $doc = new domDocument;

    $doc->loadXML($file);

    $xpath = new domXPath($doc);

    $query = "//author/birthdate";
    $xpathQuery = $xpath->query($query);

    //would be a loop in production code...
    $child = $xpathQuery->item(0);

    $parent = $child->parentNode;

    $doppel = $child->cloneNode(false);

    $limit = $doppel->attributes->length;

    for (    $a=0;$a<$limit;$a++) {
    $doppel->removeAttributeNode($doppel->attributes->item(0));
    }
    //swap for now empty node
    $parent->replaceChild( $doppel, $child);

    print     $doc->saveXML();

    ?>
    up
    2
    cmd at 1xinternet dot de
    8 years ago
    If you need to clone node including all child DOMNode elements:

    private function cloneNode($node){

    $nd = new DOMNode();

    for ($i = 0; $i < $node->childNodes->length; $i++) {
    $child = $node->childNodes->item($i);
    if ($child->nodeType === XML_TEXT_NODE) {
    $nd->appendChild($node->cloneNode(true));
    }
    else{
    $nd->appendChild($this->cloneNode($child));
    }
    }

    return $nd;
    }
    up
    2
    cemkalyoncu at gmail dot com
    15 years ago
    If you need some function to clone a node without touching namespaces you can use the following.

    <?php
    private function cloneNode($node,$doc){
    $nd=$doc->createElement($node->nodeName);

    foreach(    $node->attributes as $value)
    $nd->setAttribute($value->nodeName,$value->value);

    if(!    $node->childNodes)
    return     $nd;

    foreach(    $node->childNodes as $child) {
    if(    $child->nodeName=="#text")
    $nd->appendChild($doc->createTextNode($child->nodeValue));
    else
    $nd->appendChild(cloneNode($child,$doc));
    }

    return     $nd;
    }
    ?>
    up
    2
    h-fate at gmx dot net
    10 years ago
    If you have an object that holds a DOMNode, cloning the object won't clone the DOMNode with it. If you simply copy the object or add its DOMNode several times, you will in fact only move the DOMNode in the tree, not multiply it. That might seem obvious, but took me half a day to find out.

    The object needs to use __clone and clone the node manually:

    <?php
    class containsNode {
    public     $node; //set from somewhere

    public function __clone() {
    $this->node = $this->node->cloneNode(TRUE);
    }
    }
    ?>
    up
    -5
    oliver dot christen at camptocamp dot com
    20 years ago
    simple exemple of node cloning

    <?xml version="1.0"?>

    <book type="paperback">
    <title name='MAP'>Red Nails</title>
    <price>$12.99</price>
    <author>
    <name first="Robert" middle="E" last="Howard"/>
    <birthdate>9/21/1977</birthdate>
    </author>
    <author>
    <name first="Arthur" middle="Mc" last="Kayn"/>
    </author>
    </book>

    <?php

    //filename xml file to use
    $file = 'book.xml';

    $doc = new domDocument;

    if (    file_exists($file)) {
    $doc->load($file);
    } else {
    exit(    'Erreur !.');
    }

    $xpath = new domXPath($doc);

    $query = "//author/*";
    $xpathQuery = $xpath->query($query);

    $size = $xpathQuery->length;
    for (    $i=0; $i<$size; $i++){
    $node = $xpathQuery->item($i);
    if (    $node->nodeName == 'birthdate' && $node->hasChildNodes() && $node->firstChild->textContent != ''){
    $clonenode = $node->cloneNode(true);
    $refnode = $node;
    }
    }
    for (    $i=0; $i<$size; $i++){
    $node = $xpathQuery->item($i);
    if (!    $node->isSameNode($refnode)){
    $newnode = $node->appendChild($clonenode);
    }
    }

    print     $doc->saveXML();

    ?>
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