How to convert XML into array in PHP?

easy!

$xml = simplexml_load_string($xmlstring, "SimpleXMLElement", LIBXML_NOCDATA);
$json = json_encode($xml);
$array = json_decode($json,TRUE);

Another option is the SimpleXML extension (I believe it comes standard with most php installs.)

http://php.net/manual/en/book.simplexml.php

The syntax looks something like this for your example

$xml = new SimpleXMLElement($xmlString);
echo $xml->bbb->cccc->dddd['Id'];
echo $xml->bbb->cccc->eeee['name'];
// or...........
foreach ($xml->bbb->cccc as $element) {
  foreach($element as $key => $val) {
   echo "{$key}: {$val}";
  }
}

Converting an XML string ($buffer) into a simplified array ignoring attributes and grouping child-elements with the same names:

function XML2Array(SimpleXMLElement $parent)
{
    $array = array();

    foreach ($parent as $name => $element) {
        ($node = & $array[$name])
            && (1 === count($node) ? $node = array($node) : 1)
            && $node = & $node[];

        $node = $element->count() ? XML2Array($element) : trim($element);
    }

    return $array;
}

$xml   = simplexml_load_string($buffer);
$array = XML2Array($xml);
$array = array($xml->getName() => $array);

Result:

Array
(
    [aaaa] => Array
        (
            [bbb] => Array
                (
                    [cccc] => Array
                        (
                            [dddd] => 
                            [eeee] => 
                        )

                )

        )

)

If you also want to have the attributes, they are available via JSON encoding/decoding of SimpleXMLElement. This is often the most easy quick'n'dirty solution:

$xml   = simplexml_load_string($buffer);
$array = json_decode(json_encode((array) $xml), true);
$array = array($xml->getName() => $array);

Result:

Array
(
    [aaaa] => Array
        (
            [@attributes] => Array
                (
                    [Version] => 1.0
                )

            [bbb] => Array
                (
                    [cccc] => Array
                        (
                            [dddd] => Array
                                (
                                    [@attributes] => Array
                                        (
                                            [Id] => id:pass
                                        )

                                )

                            [eeee] => Array
                                (
                                    [@attributes] => Array
                                        (
                                            [name] => hearaman
                                            [age] => 24
                                        )

                                )

                        )

                )

        )

)

Take note that all these methods only work in the namespace of the XML document.

$array = json_decode(json_encode((array)simplexml_load_string($xml)),true);