$twig = XML::Twig::XPath->new(); $twig->parsefile($xmlfile); $root = $twig->root; $XPV='//Party[@id=//Relation[child::RelationRoleCode[@tc="37"]]/@RelatedObjectID]/Producer/CarrierAppointment/CompanyProducerID'; my $retval1 = get_xpath_value($XPV); $XPV='//OLifE/Party[@id=//OLifE/Relation[RelationRoleCode@tc=8]/@RelatedObjectID]/Person/FirstName'; my $retval2 = get_xpath_value($XPV); print "CompanyProducerID: $retval1 \nFirstName: $retval2\n"; sub get_xpath_value { my ($argvalx) = @_; print "argvalx: $argvalx\n"; my $xpath = "q!" . $argvalx . "!"; print "doing XPATH query on $xpath\n"; my @nodes = $root->findnodes($xpath); for (@nodes){ print $_->text; return $_->text; } } ./twig4.pl -xmlfile=a2b9f375-51fe-41a1-86ab-069561517890.xml argvalx: //Party[@id=//Relation[child::RelationRoleCode[@tc="37"]]/@RelatedObjectID]/Producer/CarrierAppointment/CompanyProducerID doing XPATH query on q!//Party[@id=//Relation[child::RelationRoleCode[@tc="37"]]/@RelatedObjectID]/Producer/CarrierAppointment/CompanyProducerID! Query: q!//Party... ^^^ Invalid query somewhere around here (I think)