- var_dump: documentation ( source)
<?php
$dom = new DOMDocument();
$dom->loadXml('<foo><bar/></foo>');
var_dump(isset($dom->documentElement), $dom->documentElement->parentNode);
var_dump(isset($dom->documentElement->parentNode), $dom->documentElement->parentNode);
var_dump(isset($dom->documentElement->firstChild->parentNode), $dom->documentElement->firstChild->parentNode);