# phpman > man > XML::DOM::NodeList(3pm)

## NAME
    [XML::DOM::NodeList](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ADOM%3A%3ANodeList/markdown) - A node list as used by [XML::DOM](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/XML%3A%3ADOM/markdown)

## DESCRIPTION
    The NodeList interface provides the abstraction of an ordered collection of nodes, without
    defining or constraining how this collection is implemented.

    The items in the NodeList are accessible via an integral index, starting from 0.

    Although the DOM spec states that all NodeLists are "live" in that they always reflect changes
    to the DOM tree, the NodeList returned by getElementsByTagName is not live in this
    implementation. See CAVEATS for details.

  METHODS
    item (index)
        Returns the indexth item in the collection. If index is greater than or equal to the number
        of nodes in the list, this returns undef.

    getLength
        The number of nodes in the list. The range of valid child node indices is 0 to length-1
        inclusive.

### Additional methods not in the DOM Spec
    dispose
        Removes all circular references in this NodeList and its descendants so the objects can be
        claimed for garbage collection. The objects should not be used afterwards.