xpath in bash using php

xpathbash

#!/bin/bash 
# parse xpath on the commandline (when php is installed)
# example usage :  xpath /tmp/test.xml /catalog/book[1]/title
# example output:  XML Developer's Guide
#
# given that /tmp/test.xml looks like:
# <?xml version="1.0"?>
# <catalog>
#    <book id="bk101">
#       <author>Gambardella, Matthew</author>
#       <title>XML Developer's Guide</title>
#       <genre>Computer</genre>
#       <price>44.95</price>
#       <publish_date>2000-10-01</publish_date>
#       <description>An in-depth look at creating applications 
#       with XML.</description>
#    </book>
# </catalog>

phpcode_xmlget='
  $xml = new SimpleXMLElement( file_get_contents($argv[1]) );
  $result = $xml->xpath($argv[2]);
  while( list( , $node) = each($result)) { echo (string)$node; break; }
  echo "";
'     
      
xpath(){
  php -r "$phpcode_xmlget" "$1" "$2"
}