use XML::Simple;
use Data::Dumper;

use strict;

# note - added exit(1) to keep things simple
$SIG{__DIE__} = sub { print "$_[0]"; exit(1) };

my $xml_str = <<XML;
<tag1>
    <tag2 attr1="foo" />
</tag1>
XML

my $ret = XMLin($xml_str);

print Dumper($ret);

__output__

Can't use string ("<tag1>
        <tag2 attr1="foo" />
        </t") as a symbol ref while "strict refs" in use at /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.6.0/i386-linux//XML/Parser/Expat.pm line 456.

##</code><code>##

$VAR1 = {
          'tag2' => {
                      'attr1' => 'foo'
                    }
        };