- var_dump: documentation ( source)
<?php
$str='<root>
<book id="1">
<title id="aaa">...</title>
<author>...</author>
</book>
<book id="2">
<title>...</title>
<author>...</author>
</book>
<book id="3">
<title>...</title>
<author>...</author>
</book>
</root>';
$dom = new DOMDocument;
$dom->loadXML($str);
$xpath = new DOMXPath($dom);
$book = $xpath->query("//book[@id='2']")->item(0);
var_dump($book->nodeValue);
//$html = $dom->saveXML($book);
//print_r($html);
?>