Checks whether the current element has sub elements

# SimpleXMLElement::hasChildren

(PHP 8)

SimpleXMLElement::hasChildren — Checks whether the current element has sub elements

### Description

public SimpleXMLElement::hasChildren(): bool
Warning

Prior to PHP 8.0, SimpleXMLElement::hasChildren() was only declared on the subclass SimpleXMLIterator.

This method checks whether the current SimpleXMLElement element has sub-elements.

### Parameters

This function has no parameters.

### Return Values

`true` if the current element has sub-elements, otherwise `false`

### Examples

Example #1 Check whether the current element has sub-elements

`<?php
$xml = <<<XML
<books>
<book>
<title>PHP Basics</title>
<author>Jim Smith</author>
</book>
<book>XML basics</book>
</books>
XML;
$xmlElement = new SimpleXMLElement($xml);
for ($xmlElement->rewind(); $xmlElement->valid(); $xmlElement->next()) {
if ($xmlElement->hasChildren()) {
var_dump($xmlElement->current());
}
}
?>`

The above example will output:

    object(SimpleXMLElement)#2 (2) {
      ["title"]=>
      string(10) "PHP Basics"
      ["author"]=>
      string(9) "Jim Smith"
    }

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