In the context of PHP development, what are some alternative approaches to using preg_match for parsing XML data?

When parsing XML data in PHP, using preg_match can be error-prone and inefficient. Instead, it is recommended to use built-in PHP XML parsing functions like simplexml_load_string or DOMDocument. These functions provide a more reliable and easier way to extract data from XML documents.

// Example using simplexml_load_string
$xmlString = "<root><name>John</name><age>30</age></root>";
$xml = simplexml_load_string($xmlString);

$name = $xml->name;
$age = $xml->age;

echo "Name: " . $name . ", Age: " . $age;