Are there any alternative libraries to Simple HTML DOM for PHP?

Yes, there are several excellent alternatives to Simple HTML DOM for PHP that offer different features, performance characteristics, and ease of use. Here's a comprehensive overview of the best options:

Built-in PHP Solutions

1. DOMDocument (Built-in)

PHP's native DOM implementation that follows W3C standards. No additional installation required.

$dom = new DOMDocument();
libxml_use_internal_errors(true); // Suppress HTML5 warnings
$dom->loadHTML($html, LIBXML_HTML_NOIMPLIED | LIBXML_HTML_NODEFDTD);

// Find elements by tag name
$elements = $dom->getElementsByTagName('div');
foreach ($elements as $element) {
    echo $element->textContent;
}

// Using XPath for more complex queries
$xpath = new DOMXPath($dom);
$nodes = $xpath->query('//div[@class="content"]');
foreach ($nodes as $node) {
    echo $node->textContent;
}

2. XMLReader (Built-in)

Memory-efficient streaming parser, ideal for large documents.

$reader = new XMLReader();
$reader->HTML($html);

while ($reader->read()) {
    if ($reader->nodeType == XMLReader::ELEMENT && $reader->localName == 'div') {
        $element = $reader->readOuterXML();
        echo $element;
    }
}

Third-Party Libraries

3. Symfony DOMCrawler

Powerful and intuitive library from the Symfony ecosystem.

Installation:

composer require symfony/dom-crawler symfony/css-selector

use Symfony\Component\DomCrawler\Crawler;

$crawler = new Crawler($html);

// CSS selectors
$titles = $crawler->filter('h1, h2, h3');
$titles->each(function (Crawler $node, $i) {
    echo $node->text() . "\n";
});

// Extract links
$links = $crawler->filter('a')->extract(['href', '_text']);
foreach ($links as $link) {
    echo "URL: {$link[0]}, Text: {$link[1]}\n";
}

// Form handling
$form = $crawler->selectButton('Submit')->form();
$form['username'] = 'john';

4. DiDOM

Fast and easy-to-use HTML/XML parser with CSS selector support.

Installation:

composer require imangazaliev/didom

use DiDom\Document;

$document = new Document($html, true);

// CSS selectors
$posts = $document->find('.post');
foreach ($posts as $post) {
    echo $post->text();
}

// XPath
$links = $document->find('//a[@class="external"]');

// Modify elements
$document->find('h1')[0]->setAttribute('class', 'main-title');
echo $document->html();

5. QueryPath

jQuery-inspired PHP library for HTML/XML manipulation.

Installation:

composer require querypath/querypath

require_once 'vendor/autoload.php';
use QueryPath\DOMQuery;

$qp = qp($html);

// jQuery-like syntax
$qp->find('div.content')->addClass('processed');
$titles = $qp->find('h1, h2')->text();

// Chain operations
$qp->find('a')
   ->attr('target', '_blank')
   ->addClass('external-link');

echo $qp->html();

6. Ganon

Lightweight HTML parser similar to Simple HTML DOM.

Installation:

composer require ircmaxell/ganon

include 'ganon.php';

$dom = str_get_dom($html);

// Simple selectors
$divs = $dom('div');
foreach ($divs as $div) {
    echo $div->getInnerText();
}

// CSS selectors
$links = $dom('a[href^="http"]');

7. FluentDOM

Provides jQuery-like fluent interface for DOM manipulation.

Installation:

composer require fluentdom/fluentdom

use FluentDOM\FluentDOM;

$fd = FluentDOM::load($html, 'text/html');

// jQuery-like chaining
$fd('div.content')
  ->find('p')
  ->addClass('paragraph')
  ->filter(':first')
  ->text('Modified first paragraph');

echo $fd->document->saveHTML();

Comparison Table

| Library | Ease of Use | Performance | CSS Selectors | XPath | Memory Usage | Dependencies | |---------|-------------|-------------|---------------|-------|--------------|-------------| | Simple HTML DOM | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | ❌ | High | None | | DOMDocument | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ❌ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Medium | None | | Symfony DOMCrawler | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Medium | Yes | | DiDOM | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Low | Yes | | QueryPath | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Medium | Yes | | FluentDOM | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Medium | Yes |

Choosing the Right Library

For beginners: DiDOM or Symfony DOMCrawler offer the best balance of power and simplicity.

For performance: DOMDocument (built-in) or XMLReader for large documents.

For jQuery developers: QueryPath or FluentDOM provide familiar syntax.

For complex parsing: Symfony DOMCrawler with its advanced filtering capabilities.

For no dependencies: Stick with DOMDocument or consider Ganon as a lightweight alternative.

Consider factors like project requirements, team familiarity, performance needs, and whether you need CSS selector support or XPath functionality when making your choice.