Writing XML with PHP please help!

ok where the script says (echo date"n-j-Y"); I can’t get it to work when writing to the XML any suggestions?

Thanks,

Aaron

 
<?php
$dom = new DomDocument(); 
$dom->load("data.xml");
$item = $dom->createElement("entry"); 
$title = $dom->createElement("date"); 
$titletext = $dom->createTextNode((echo date"n-j-Y");); 
$title->appendChild($titletext); 
$item->appendChild($title); 
$dom->documentElement->appendChild($item); 
$dom->save("data.xml");
?>