- simplexml_load_string: documentation ( source)
<?php
$xml = "<root>
<parent>
<child name='Child1' >aaa</child>
<child name='Child2' >sss</child>
<subparent>
<child name='Child3' />
</subparent>
</parent>
<child name='Child4' />
</root>";
$xml = simplexml_load_string( $xml);
foreach( $xml->xpath( '/parent') as $child => $data) {
echo $data->child . "\n";
}