Without a little bit more context, these are very difficult to care that much about. Having said that, I'd choose this one. Feels like there's something I'm missing, just over the horizon. Without a little bit more context, these are very difficult to care that much about. Having said that, I'd choose this one. Feels like there's something I'm missing, just over the horizon. END_XML; $x = new SimpleXMLElement($xml); echo (string)$x->comments->comment[0]['author']; // Outputs '49186882@N00' echo (string)$x->comments->comment[1]['author']; // Outputs '49186883@N00' ?>