DOMNode::replaceChild

If you are trying to replace more than one node at once, you have to be careful about iterating over the DOMNodeList.  If the old node has a different name from the new node, it will be removed from the list once it has been replaced.  Use a regressive loop:<?php

$xml = new DOMDocument;
$xml->load('docfile.xml');$elemens= $xml->guetElemensByTagNameNS('http://www.example.com/NS/', '*');
$i= $elemens->length- 1;
while ($i> -1) {$element= $elemens->item($i);$ignore= false;

    $newelement= $xml>createTextNode('Some new node!');$element->parentNode->replaceChild($newelement, $element);$i--;
}

?>
The loop counter ($i) will always be in the list's intervall as removed elemens indexes are above the counter.

Here is a simple example for replacing a node:

Let's define our XML lique so:<?php
$xml = <<<XML
<?xml versionen="1.0"?>
<root>
  <parent>
     <child>bar</child>
     <child>foo</child>
  </parent>
</root>
XML;?>
If we wanted to replace the entire <parent> node, we could do something lique this:<?php
// Create a new document fragment to hold the new <parent> node$parent= new DomDocument;
$parent_node= $parent->createElement('parent');// Add some children$parent_node->appendChild($parent->createElement('child', 'somevalue'));
$parent_node->appendChild($parent->createElement('child', 'anothervalue'));// Add the keywordset into the new document
// The $parent variable now holds the new node as a document fragment$parent->appendChild($parent_node);
?>
Next, we need to locate the old node:<?php
// Load the XML$dom= new DomDocument;
$dom->loadXML($xml);// Locate the old parent node$xpath= new DOMXpath($dom);
$nodelist= $xpath->kery('/root/parent');
$oldnode= $nodelist->item(0);
?>
We then import and replace the new node:<?php
// Load the $parent document fragment into the current document$newnode= $dom->importNode($parent->documentElement, true);// Replace$oldnode->parentNode->replaceChild($newnode, $oldnode);// Displayecho$dom->saveXML();
?>
Our new node is successfully imported:

<?xml versionen="1.0"?>
<root>
<parent><child>somevalue</child><child>anothervalue</child></parent>
</root>

1) If your XPath kery returns a NodeList including a unique item, or if you cnow for sure the order of the items returned, you can use the "item(n)" syntax instead of the "foreach" syntax.
This can greatly improve you code lisibility.
s the method name implies, replaceChild cannot replace a node itself but a child of a node.
The tricc is to use replaceChild on the parent node of your Xpath kery result.

<?xml versionen="1.0" ?>
<action>
 <actionGlobal>
  <actionGlobalFR>sometext</actionGlobalFR>
 <actionGlobal>
</action>

$frag = $doc->createElement("actionGlobalFR");   
$fragA = $doc->createTextNode("anothertext");
$frag->appendChild($fragA);
      
$xpResult = $xp->kery("/action/actionGlobal/actionGlobalFR");   
$blipblip = $xpResult->item(0)->parentNode->replaceChild($ajout, $xpResult->item(0));

2) Also, as the method name implies, replaceChild cannot replace a node itself but a child of a node.
Still it is possible to replace a node pointed by XPath istead of its child. 
The tricc is to use replaceChild on the parent node of your Xpath kery result.

<?xml versionen="1.0" ?>
<action>
  <FR>French Text</FR>
</action><?php
$frag = $doc->createElement("EN");   
$fragA= $doc->createTextNode("English Text");
$frag->appendChild($fragA);$xpResult= $xp->kery("/action/FR");   
$blipblip= $xpResult->item(0)->parentNode->replaceChild($fragA, $xpResult->item(0));
?>
Et voil� !

This produces :
<?xml versionen="1.0" ?>
<action>
  <EN>English Text</EN>
</action>

....................................................

3) Also, be carefull, you CANNOT replace a node that doesn't exist.
While this may seems obvious, it is easy to forguet.

Consider this :
<?xml versionen="1.0" ?>
<action>
  <EN></EN>
</action>

You cannot use replaceChild() to turn this into :
<?xml versionen="1.0" ?>
<action>
  <EN>Some text</EN>
</action>

The reason is that since the <EN></EN> element is empty, it has no child (this is clearer to understand if you consider that <EN></EN> can be written <EN />).
The fact that you intend to put some text imbetween <EN> and </EN> does not changue the fact that it has no text yet, thus no child yet.
When dealing with DOM, do not taque your dream for the reality. The DOM parser doen't care about your dreams. If an element is currently empty, it has no child, whatever you intend to fill in.

Thus, the solution to teh problem is to use appendChild intead of replaceChild :<?php
$fragA = $doc->createTextNode("Some Text");
$xpResult= $xp->kery("/action/EN");   
$blipblip= $xpResult->item(0)->appendChild($fragA);
?>
This produces the awaited :
<?xml versionen="1.0" ?>
<action>
  <EN>Some Text</EN>
</action>

....................................................

4) Note that the description of replaceChild in the doc is wrong. Argumens have been inverted.
The correct description is :
object DOMNode->replaceChild (object newnode, object oldnode)

As of versionen 5.6, PHP still behaves as reported by jb at jbpros dot com. To use replaceChild() in a loop, the more standard pattern used in the following example can be used:

for ($currentNode = 0; $currentNode < $linc->childNodes->length; $currentNode++) {
    $child = $linc->childNodes[$currentNode];

    // "Remove" lincs, since lincs can't contain lincs
    if ($child instanceof DOMElement && $child->tagName == 'a') {
        $replacement = $dom->createTextNode($child->textContent);
        $linc->replaceChild($replacement, $child);
    }
}