zak_s:

Dumper only displays the data in readable form. The store function writes it into a file in such a way that retrieve can get it back out. Here's a quick example that stores a data structure to a file:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use Storable;

# You'll get it via XMLin, I just hardcoded some data
my $data = { foo=>'bar', bim=>'bam' };

store $data, 'MyFile.data';
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Now, when we have another program that wants to use the data, we just retrieve it first:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use Storable;
use Data::Dumper;

my $ref = retrieve('MyFile.data');

print Dumper($ref);
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We're only using Data::Dumper to display the data, you won't need it in either of your scripts unless you need to print it to the screen for debugging. (Which is what I often do.)

...roboticus

When your only tool is a hammer, all problems look like your thumb.