DomNode->owner_document Returns the document this node belongs to &reftitle.description; domdocumentDomNode->owner_document This function returns the document the current node belongs to. The following example will create two identical lists of children. create_element("para"); $node = $doc->append_child($node); $children = $doc->children(); print_r($children); $doc2 = $node->owner_document(); $children = $doc2->children(); print_r($children); ?> ]]> See also domnode_insert_before.