- simplexml_load_string: documentation ( source)
<?php
$xml_string = <<<XML
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
<foo id="1">
<bar>text</bar>
</foo>
<foo id="2">
<bar>text2</bar>
</foo>
</root>
XML;
$xml = simplexml_load_string($xml_string);
$var = '1';
echo $xml->foo[$var]->bar;