<?php

$html=<<<EOF
<code>
    <div>
        <span ds = 'dsds'>12 3 ->;:4</span><span>abc</span>
    </div>
</code>
EOF;

$xpath = new DOMXPath(@DOMDocument::loadHTML($html));    
$nodeList = $xpath->query('//code/div/span');

$vals = array();
for($i=0; $i < $nodeList->length; $i++) {
    $vals[] = $nodeList->item($i)->nodeValue;
}

print_r( $vals );

?>