Tablizer

Convert XML to PHP Array Online

Paste an XML table below, edit it if you need to, and get PHP Array back. The conversion runs in your browser, so nothing is uploaded, there is no size limit and there is no signup.

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What XML is

XML marks up data with nested named tags and optional attributes. It is verbose, strict about being well-formed, and can carry a schema that says what shape a document must have.

Enterprise integrations, government data feeds, RSS, SOAP services and older document formats.

What PHP Array is

A PHP array literal: an outer array of rows, each an associative array keyed by column name.

PHP applications that need a lookup table in code rather than in a database.

What changes when you convert XML to PHP Array

The first repeating element is treated as the rows. Attributes are read alongside child elements and prefixed so they do not collide with a same-named tag. Nesting one level deep becomes dotted column names; deeper structures are kept as text.

Values are single-quoted with backslashes and quotes escaped, so the output can be pasted into a file as is.

What carries over from XML to PHP Array

PHP can express everything XML holds about a table, so this conversion is about shape rather than loss.

PHP wants a type for each column, and XML does not record one, so each column is typed from what its values look like. A column of digits that should stay text - a zip code, a phone number, a leading-zero id - is the usual thing to check afterwards.

The identifier 007 comes out of the PHP Array as 007. Reading it as a number would have made it 7, and an id that changes value is worse than one that stays text.

The role "Analyst, data" survives with its comma, in one cell rather than split across two. That is the first thing to check in any converted table, and the usual place a PHP Array file goes wrong.

The quotes around Jonah "Jo" Pryce are left as a plain quote character in the PHP Array.

A worked example

Three rows of staff data, with an identifier that has a leading zero, a value containing a comma, a value containing quotes and one blank cell. Those are the four places formats disagree, so they are the four places to look.

XML in
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<staff>
  <person id="007">
    <name>Halima Yusuf</name>
    <role>Analyst, data</role>
    <started>2024-03-15</started>
    <hours>38.5</hours>
  </person>
  <person id="012">
    <name>Jonah "Jo" Pryce</name>
    <role>Engineer</role>
    <started>2025-11-02</started>
    <hours></hours>
  </person>
  <person id="104">
    <name>Wei Chen</name>
    <role>Manager</role>
    <started>2023-06-30</started>
    <hours>40</hours>
  </person>
</staff>
PHP Array out
$staff = [
  ['id' => '007', 'name' => 'Halima Yusuf', 'role' => 'Analyst, data', 'started' => '2024-03-15', 'hours' => '38.5'],
  ['id' => '012', 'name' => 'Jonah "Jo" Pryce', 'role' => 'Engineer', 'started' => '2025-11-02', 'hours' => ''],
  ['id' => '104', 'name' => 'Wei Chen', 'role' => 'Manager', 'started' => '2023-06-30', 'hours' => '40'],
];

Questions

How do I convert XML to PHP Array?

Paste your XML into the box above or drop the file onto it. Check the table in the grid, then copy or download the PHP Array from the output panel. It takes one step and the data never leaves your browser.

Is there a limit on file size?

No. The work happens on your own machine, so the limit is your machine's memory rather than an upload cap. A file with tens of thousands of rows converts in a second or two.

Is my data uploaded anywhere?

No. The parsing and generating are done by JavaScript running on this page. You can watch the network tab while you convert and see that nothing is sent.

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