XMLin : Optimal Way to tell the difference between Array vs Scalar

tptass has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Let me preface this with this is actually working code and that I'm simply just looking for a better way to go about doing the follow, really the optimal way of do it.

I basically am reading an xml file and for a given key I'm creating anArray. However, there are cases where the key can have many xml elements in which xmlin returns an Array or the other case where just a single element (a scalar) is returned. Is there any other way to approach this, a better way?

            if ( ref($xmlin->{$key}) eq "ARRAY")
            {
                @anArray = @{$xmlin->{$key}};
            }
            else
            {
                push @anArray, $xmlin->{$key};
            }
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Re: XMLin : Optimal Way to tell the difference between Array vs Scalar
by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Aug 19, 2008 at 23:48 UTC

Yes. Add the ForceArray => 1 option on the constructor, then XML::Simple will always return an array even if it only contains one element. See the POD for details.

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Re^2: XMLin : Optimal Way to tell the difference between Array vs Scalar

by tptass (Sexton) on Aug 20, 2008 at 00:11 UTC

Thanks BrowserUK, I somehow missed that entire section on ForceArray and ForceContent. Need to look a little hard next time before posting. Thanks for the Help!

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Re: XMLin : Optimal Way to tell the difference between Array vs Scalar
by ysth (Canon) on Aug 20, 2008 at 03:09 UTC

@anArray = ref $xmlin->{$key} ? @{$xmlin->{$key}} : $xmlin->{$key};
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Re^2: XMLin : Optimal Way to tell the difference between Array vs Scalar

by JadeNB (Chaplain) on Aug 20, 2008 at 21:28 UTC

@anArray = ref $xmlin->{$key} ? @{$xmlin->{$key}} : $xmlin->{$key};
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map

@anArray = map { my $x; ref( $x = $xmlin->{$_} ) eq 'ARRAY' ? @$x : $x
+ } keys %$xmlin;
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Re: XMLin : Optimal Way to tell the difference between Array vs Scalar
by grantm (Parson) on Aug 21, 2008 at 01:01 UTC

If you're going to use XML::Simple, you should read this node on how to use it responsibly (it also provides a solution to your original problem).

Probably also worth looking at this node for weaning yourself off XML::Simple and onto something better.

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Re^2: XMLin : Optimal Way to tell the difference between Array vs Scalar

by Jenda (Abbot) on Aug 21, 2008 at 19:24 UTC

Talking about other options, this node might also be worth a read. It would require less changes from the code using XML::Simple, yet if needed can be turned into a stream-based parser handling the document in as small pieces as required.

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