my $xml = <<'*END*'; Jane Luser JLuser@bogus.com
Washington st. Old Creek The US bleargh
123-456-7890 663-486-7890 663-486-7000
John Other JOther@silly.com
Grant's st. New Creek Canada sdrysdfgtyh degtrhy degtrhy werthywerthy drthyu
663-486-7891
*END* my $parser = new XML::Rules ( rules => [ _default => sub {$_[0] => $_[1]->{_content}}, 'fname,lname' => sub {$_[0] => $_[1]->{_content}}, bogus => undef, address => sub {address => "$_[1]->{street}, $_[1]->{city} ($_[1]->{country})"}, phone => sub {$_[1]->{type} => $_[1]->{_content}}, # let's use the "type" attribute as the key and the content as the value phones => sub {delete $_[1]->{_content}; %{$_[1]}}, # remove the text content and pass along the type => content from the child nodes person => sub { # lets print the values, all the data is readily available in the attributes print "$_[1]->{lname}, $_[1]->{fname} <$_[1]->{email}>\n"; print "Home phone: $_[1]->{home}\n" if $_[1]->{home}; print "Office phone: $_[1]->{office}\n" if $_[1]->{office}; print "Fax: $_[1]->{fax}\n" if $_[1]->{fax}; print "$_[1]->{address}\n\n"; return; # the tag is processed, no need to remember what it contained }, ] ); $parser->parsestring($xml);