(...) my $ref = $entry->get_value ( 'changes', asref => 1 ); print Dumper($ref); #### perl test.pl $VAR1 = [ 'delete: employeeType employeeType: Intern - add: employeeType employeeType: No Longer Employed - add: description description: On 30-07-2013 05:17 removed from source. - add: nsAccountLock nsAccountLock: true - replace: modifiersname modifiersname: cn=mmariusz,ou=people,ou=testENV - replace: modifytimestamp modifytimestamp: 20130730031746Z - ' #### function magic() { my $string = shift; # some magic should be placed here :) #sample return return @replaced_attrs,@added_attrs,@delete_attrs; }