Honestly though - What you get from XML::Simple isn't AT ALL simple. You need to set a bunch of (non default) options just to get something consistent out of it. Once you've done this, you end up with a daisy chain of array and hashes that you've no hope of navigating without referring to Data::Dumper.

But yes, perhaps I need to ask more noobs, but they don't actually see the difference between a hacky bodge and some code that's just as efficient but way clearer.