sub characters {
  my ($self, $chars) = @_;
  $self->{buffered_text} .= $chars->{Data};
  ...
}

##</code><code>##

sub get_buffered_text {
  my $self = shift;
  my $text = $self->{buffered_text};
  $self->{buffered_text} = '';
  return $text;
}

##</code><code>##

sub get_buffered_text {
  my $self = shift;
  (($_, $self->{buffered_text}) = ($self->{buffered_text}, ''))[0];
}