DOMDocument
DOMDocument provides full W3C DOM API for reading and writing XML. It is more verbose than SimpleXML but offers complete control over the document structure.
PHP
Intermediate
5 min read
DOMDocument for Complex XML
Example
<?php
$dom = new DOMDocument("1.0", "UTF-8");
$dom->formatOutput = true;
$root = $dom->createElement("users");
$dom->appendChild($root);
$user = $dom->createElement("user");
$user->setAttribute("id", "1");
$root->appendChild($user);
$name = $dom->createElement("name", "Alice");
$user->appendChild($name);
echo $dom->saveXML();
// <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
// <users>
// <user id="1"><name>Alice</name></user>
// </users> Pro Tip
Use DOMDocument when you need to build XML programmatically or handle namespaces — SimpleXML struggles with both.