Wrong: my $cert = $row->find('/AD/@XREF')->string_value; Correct: my $xref = $row->find('//@XREF')->string_value; #### print "1-$trans - 2-$cert - 3-$xref - 4-$fname - 5-$lname - 6-$bdate - 7-$no - 8-$state - 9-$ssss - 10-$train - 11-$volume - 12-$cno - 13-$id - 14-$total\n";