my $sel = 'title'; my $twig = XML::Twig->new( pretty_print => 'indented', twig_roots => { "$sel" => \&parse_title }, ); $twig->parsefile('1.xml'); $twig->print; sub parse_title { my ($t,$title) = @_; $title->delete if $title->get_xpath( 'name/fnm[@letter="a"]' ); }