my $xml = 'ApplicationList.xml'; my $xp = XML::XPath->new(filename => $xml); my $appxpath = $xp->findnodes("//application_list/application/"); my %appid = (); my %appname = (); foreach my $appnodeset ($appxpath->get_nodelist) { my $id = $xp->find('./@id',$appnodeset); my $name = $xp->find('./@name',$appnodeset); #$name = $_->string_value; s/^\s+|\s+$//g for $id,$name; $appid{$id} = {$name->string_value}; } print Dumper \%appid;