- var_dump: documentation ( source)
<?php
$dom=new DOMDocument;
$dom->loadHTML(<<<HTML
<div>
<a>abc</a>
xyz
</div>
HTML
);
$div=$dom->getElementsByTagName("div")->item(0);
var_dump($div->childNodes->length);//just to debug
$txt="";
$txt = $div->childNodes->item(2)->nodeValue;
var_dump($txt);