findthing($root, '$root->', '');

sub findthing
{
  my $node = shift;
  my $debugString = shift;
  my $indent = shift;
  if (ref $node eq 'ARRAY')
  {
    for (0..$#$node)
    {
      my $result = findthing($node->[$_], $debugString . "\[$_\]", $indent .'  ');
      return $result if defined $result;
    }
    print $indent . "No luck in array at $debugString\n";
  }elsif (ref $node eq 'HASH')
  {
    for (keys %$node)
    {
      my $result = findthing($node->{$_}, $debugString . "\{$_\}", $indent . '  ');
      return $result if defined $result;   
    }
    print $indent . "No luck in hash at $debugString\n";
  }
...
  return undef;
}