Description:
------------
Maybe it's ok, because $root->node is not a string, but object.
But then PHP must return error when trying to do so, I think.

Reproduce code:
---------------
<?
$xml = "<root><node>data</node></root>";
$root = simplexml_load_string($xml);
$str = $root->node;
echo "'" . $str . "'<br/>\n";
echo "'" . $str{0} . "'<br/>\n";
echo "'" . $str{1} . "'<br/>\n";
$str = strval($root->node);
echo "'" . $str . "'<br/>\n";
echo "'" . $str{0} . "'<br/>\n";
echo "'" . $str{1} . "'<br/>\n";
?>

Expected result:
----------------
'data'
'd'
'a'
'data'
'd'
'a'

Actual result:
--------------
'data'
'data'
''
'data'
'd'
'a'