Use the contextnode parameter to shorten our expression in PHP

<?php//from   w w w.j  a v a 2 s  . c o  m

$doc = new DOMDocument;
$doc->preserveWhiteSpace = false;

$doc->load('test.xml');

$xpath = new DOMXPath($doc);

$tbody = $doc->getElementsByTagName('tbody')->item(0);

// our query is relative to the tbody node
$query = 'row/entry[. = "en"]';

$entries = $xpath->query($query, $tbody);

foreach ($entries as $entry) {
    echo "Found {$entry->previousSibling->previousSibling->nodeValue}," .
         " by {$entry->previousSibling->nodeValue}\n";
}
?>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE books [//  w  ww . ja  va2 s.c  o m
  <!ELEMENT books   (book+)>
  <!ELEMENT book    (title, author+, xhtml:blurb?)>
  <!ELEMENT title   (#PCDATA)>
  <!ELEMENT blurb   (#PCDATA)>
  <!ELEMENT author  (#PCDATA)>
  <!ATTLIST books   xmlns        CDATA  #IMPLIED>
  <!ATTLIST books   xmlns:xhtml  CDATA  #IMPLIED>
  <!ATTLIST book    id           ID     #IMPLIED>
  <!ATTLIST author  email        CDATA  #IMPLIED>
]>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="style.xsl"?>
<books xmlns="http://java2s.com/" xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
  <book id="php-basics">
    <title>PHP Basics</title>
    <author email="t@no.com">Tom</author>
    <author email="j@no.com">Jack</author>
    <xhtml:blurb>PHP Basics</xhtml:blurb>
  </book>
  <book id="php-advanced">
    <title>PHP Programming</title>
    <author email="j@no.php">Jack</author>
  </book>
</books>