- var_dump: documentation ( source)
<?php
$xmlstring = '<html><p>8. Attacked<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></p>
<p>9. Quiet Buzz</p>
<p> </p></html>';
$doc = new DOMDocument();
$doc->loadHTML($xmlstring);
$xpath = new DOMXpath($doc);
foreach($xpath->query("//*[normalize-space(text()) != '']") as $child) {
var_dump($child->nodeValue);
}