I have this simplexml result object:

```
 object(SimpleXMLElement)#207 (2) {
  ["@attributes"]=>
  array(1) {
   ["version"]=>
   string(1) "1"
  }
  ["weather"]=>
  object(SimpleXMLElement)#206 (2) {
   ["@attributes"]=>
   array(1) {
   ["section"]=>
   string(1) "0"
  }
  ["problem_cause"]=>
  object(SimpleXMLElement)#94 (1) {
   ["@attributes"]=>
   array(1) {
   ["data"]=>
   string(0) ""
   }
  }
  }
 }

```

I need to check if the node "problem\_cause" exists. Even if it is empty, the result is an error.
On the php manual, I found this php code that I modified for my needs:

```
 function xml_child_exists($xml, $childpath)
 {
    $result = $xml->xpath($childpath);
    if (count($result)) {
        return true;
    } else {
        return false;
    }
 }

 if(xml_child_exists($xml, 'THE_PATH')) //error
 {
  return false;
 }
 return $xml;

```

I have no idea what to put in place of the xpath query 'THE\_PATH' to check if the node exists.
Or is it better to convert the simplexml object to dom?