simplexml_load_string Interprets a string of XML into an object &reftitle.description; SimpleXMLElementfalsesimplexml_load_string stringdata stringnullclass_nameSimpleXMLElement::class intoptions0 stringnamespace_or_prefix"" boolis_prefix&false; Takes a well-formed XML string and returns it as an object. &reftitle.parameters; data A well-formed XML string class_name You may use this optional parameter so that simplexml_load_string will return an object of the specified class. That class should extend the SimpleXMLElement class. options Since Libxml 2.6.0, you may also use the options parameter to specify additional Libxml parameters. namespace_or_prefix Namespace prefix or URI. is_prefix &true; if namespace_or_prefix is a prefix, &false; if it's a URI; defaults to &false;. &reftitle.returnvalues; Returns an object of class SimpleXMLElement with properties containing the data held within the xml document,&return.falseforfailure;. &return.falseproblem; &reftitle.errors; Produces an E_WARNING error message for each error found in the XML data. Use libxml_use_internal_errors to suppress all XML errors, and libxml_get_errors to iterate over them afterwards. &reftitle.examples; Joe Jane I know that's the answer -- but what's the question? XML; $xml = simplexml_load_string($string); print_r($xml); ?> ]]> &example.outputs; Forty What? [from] => Joe [to] => Jane [body] => I know that's the answer -- but what's the question? ) ]]> At this point, you can go about using $xml->body and such. &reftitle.seealso; simplexml_load_file SimpleXMLElement::__construct libxml_use_internal_errors