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

my $Parser = new XML::Simple(
	forcearray => [qw(LOCALE)],
	suppressempty => '',
);

my $data = $Parser->XMLin(<<'*END*');
<tag>
 <subtag> </subtag>
 <othertag>  ahoj  </othertag>
</tag>
*END*

print Dumper($data);

##</code><code>##

$VAR1 = {
          'othertag' => '  ahoj  ',
          'subtag' => ''
        };