- simplexml_load_string: documentation ( source)
<?php
$a_xml = <<<XML
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
xmlns:ser="http://www.example.com/v1/services">
<soapenv:Header/>
<soapenv:Body>
<ser:getAnalyticalDeliveryEstimatesRequest>
<ser:buyer>
<ser:buyerId>1233</ser:buyerId>
<ser:toCountry>IN</ser:toCountry>
<ser:toZip>110001</ser:toZip>
</ser:buyer>
<ser:item>
<ser:id>25164</ser:id>
<ser:categoryId>15032</ser:categoryId>
<ser:seller>
<ser:sellerId>11997</ser:sellerId>
<ser:fromCountry>IN</ser:fromCountry>
</ser:seller>
<ser:transactionId>0</ser:transactionId>
</ser:item>
</ser:getAnalyticalDeliveryEstimatesRequest>
</soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>
XML;
$xml = simplexml_load_string( $a_xml );
$xml->registerXPathNamespace('soapenv', 'http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/');
$xml->registerXPathNamespace('ser', 'http://www.example.com/v1/services');
$xpath = $xml->xpath( '//soapenv:Body/ser:getAnalyticalDeliveryEstimatesRequest' );
$node = $xpath[0];
echo $node->name;