//xml string $xml_string="<?xml version='1.0'?> <users> <user id='398'> <name>Foo</name> <email>foo@bar.com</name> </user> <user id='867'> <name>Foobar</name> <email>foobar@foo.com</name> </user> </users>"; //load the xml string using simplexml $xml = simplexml_load_string($xml_string); //loop through the each node of user foreach ($xml->user as $user) { //access attribute echo $user['id'], ' '; //subnodes are accessed by -> operator echo $user->name, ' '; echo $user->email, '<br />'; }