I concur with 3dan: do not use XML::Parser. For help on processing XML with Perl look no further than the Per-xml FAQ.You can also look at the Module Reviews here, at the Tutorial section which has a couple of tutorials on XML modules, or at XML::Twig.com (the Perl XML tutorial there is getting quite old but there is a new (beta, comments welcome) article: Ways to Rome 2 - Kourallinen Dollareita that you might find interesting).