- simplexml_load_string: documentation ( source)
<?php
$xmlstr="<properties>
<property>name</property><value>john</value>
<property>surname</property><value>wayne</value>
<property>age</property><value>33</value>
<property>blaaa</property><value>blaa</value>
</properties>";
$xml = simplexml_load_string($xmlstr);
$prop = $xml->xpath('//property');
$value = $xml->xpath('//value');
$count=count($prop)-1;
for ($i=0;$i<=$count;$i++) {
echo $prop[0],$value[0];
}