XML Reader - skip to specified node

[rossbar]

Hey there, 

 

I am trying to parse a large xml file (~700 mb) and running into a bad gateway error from my host.  I believe this is b/c the php script I have put together is taking so long to run.  I am utilizing xmlreader combined with simplexml (within a node) to extract data and then insert it into our DB.  

As a solution to the timeout issues (if the host can't increase the script runtime value), I am thinking I could just break the parsing job into chunks.  To do this, I think I would need to be able to tell the xmlreader to begin at a specified node number.  Is this possible?

 

How can I tell it to start at the 4th "car" tag below? 

 

 

<car>

<color>blue</color>

<doors>4</doors>

</car>

<car>

<color>blue</color>

<doors>2</doors>

</car>

<car>

<color>black</color>

<doors>2</doors>

</car>

<car>

<color>black</color>

<doors>4</doors>

</car>

<color>black</color>

<doors>2</doors>

</car>

<car>

<color>black</color>

<doors>4</doors>

</car>

[requinix]

You have to start from the beginning, so count and skip over s until you reach the right number.

[rossbar]

hey Requinix, 

 

Thanks for that! Makes perfect sense.