#!/usr/bin/perl -w -- use XML::Twig; my $twig = XML::Twig->new( twig_roots => { 'item' => sub { XML::Twig::Elt->new( year => '', )->paste( last_child => $_[-1], ); $_[-1]->print; print $/; } }, ); my $xml =<DonaldI Title JamesII Title XML $twig->parse(''.$xml.''); # junk cause $xml ain't really xml