- var_dump: documentation ( source)
<?php
$string = '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<sv:node xmlns:xml="http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace" xmlns:mix="http://www.jcp.org/jcr/mix/1.0" xmlns:nt="http://www.jcp.org/jcr/nt/1.0" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:jcr="http://www.jcp.org/jcr/1.0" xmlns:sv="http://www.jcp.org/jcr/sv/1.0" xmlns:rep="internal">
<sv:property sv:name="jcr:created" sv:type="date" sv:multi-valued="0">
<sv:value>2013-11-11T14:50:35+01:00</sv:value>
</sv:property>
<sv:property sv:name="jcr:created" sv:type="date" sv:multi-valued="0">
<sv:value>2014-11-11T14:50:35+01:00</sv:value>
</sv:property>
<sv:property sv:name="jcr:created" sv:type="date" sv:multi-valued="0">
<sv:value>2015-11-11T14:50:35+01:00</sv:value>
</sv:property>
</sv:node>';
$expression = '//*[text()<"2014-11-11T14:50:35+01:00"]';
$dom = new \DOMDocument('1.0', 'UTF-8');
$dom->loadXML($string);
$xpath = new \DOMXPath($dom);
$r = $xpath->evaluate($expression);
var_dump($r);
var_dump($r->item(0));