How to visit the elements after using `simple_load_file()` to load an xml file

I intend to fetch some certain data from xml files. I used simple_load_file() to load an xml file and get the object elements, but I don't know how to visit them. The xml file is like following:

<?mxl version="1.0">
<metaData>
<Application version="1.0" type="32">
   <options>
       <section name="A">
           <description>...</description>
           ...
       <section name="B">
       ....
   </options>
</Application>
</metaData>

My code:

$xml = simplexml_load_file($url);
echo $xml->Application->version; // get the version but failed
echo $xml->Application->options->section...//I want to get the data from each section, but I don't know how to visit the elements.

Solution

Before i answer this question, let me tell you a little tip, whenever you have any problem try searching it on google, like in this case, i would search:

PHP simplexml examples

Ok, lets say we have a XML content:

<?php
$xmlstr = <<<XML
<?xml version='1.0' standalone='yes'?>
<movies>
 <movie>
  <title>PHP: Behind the Parser</title>
  <characters>
   <character>
    <name>Ms. Coder</name>
    <actor>Onlivia Actora</actor>
   </character>
   <character>
    <name>Mr. Coder</name>
    <actor>El Act&#211;r</actor>
   </character>
  </characters>
  <plot>
   So, this language. It's like, a programming language. Or is it a
   scripting language? All is revealed in this thrilling horror spoof
   of a documentary.
  </plot>
  <great-lines>
   <line>PHP solves all my web problems</line>
  </great-lines>
  <rating type="thumbs">7</rating>
  <rating type="stars">5</rating>
 </movie>
</movies>
XML;
?>

We can parse the XML data this way:

<?php


$movies = new SimpleXMLElement($xmlstr);

echo $movies->movie[0]->plot;
?>

For more example please visit: http://php.net/manual/en/simplexml.examples-basic.php

For this question specific, you should use the SimpleXMLElement::children