PHP: Create variable names from XML element names

I needed to convert an xml file into an array. You can use an element name to name a variable using this example.

        $string = "<postcode>5253</postcode>";

        $xml = new SimpleXMLElement($string);


        $varname = $xml->getName();


        ${$varname} = trim($xml);


        echo($varname." is ".${$varname}."\n");
        echo($varname." is ".$postcode."\n");

Output:

postcode is 5253

postcode is 5253