Hi, Thanks for the fast reply. For instance i use the following XML file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<log>
<logentry
   revision="12345">
<author>someAuthor</author>
<date>2017-10-11T09:32:15.704935Z</date>
<msg>This is my SVN message with characters like ä or &amp;.</msg>
</logentry>
</log>
[download]

After I execute the following script ...

use XML::Smart;

open(my $fh, "<", "test.xml") or die $!;

my $logString;

while (<$fh>)
{
    $logString .= $_;
}

my $test = XML::Smart->new($logString);
$test->{log}->{logentry}[0]->{msg}->set_binary('FALSE');
print $test->data();
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... I get the following result.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<?meta name="GENERATOR" content="XML::Smart/1.78 Perl/5.024001 [MSWin3
+2]" ?>
<log>
  <logentry revision="12345">
    <author>someAuthor</author>
    <date>2017-10-11T09:32:15.704935Z</date>
    <msg dt:dt="binary.base64">VGhpcyBpcyBteSBTVk4gbWVzc2FnZSB3aXRoIGN
+oYXJhY3RlcnMgbGlrZSDkIG9yICYu</msg>
  </logentry>
</log>
[download]

If i call the subroutine data(decode => 1) the msg element contains the decoded message:

    <msg>This is my SVN message with characters like ä or &.</msg>
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But this output is invalid because "&" is not replaced by an escape sequence. I need an XML file with no Base64 encoding and escaped special XML characters like "&". All in one, a valid XML document without Base64 encoding. The XML parser which parses the output of the script can't handle Base64 encoding. I wonder if can solve the problem by using the subroutine set_binary('FALSE'). PS: I´m using Strawberry Perl v5.24.1 on Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter.

NeedForPerl:

I just checked your code with Your Mother's recommendation and it worked just fine. I did, however, have to remove the ä symbol because XML::Smart complained about it being encoded incorrectly. After that, and changing 'FALSE' to 0, it gave me (the presumably expected):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<?meta name="GENERATOR" content="XML::Smart/1.78 Perl/5.022004 [cygwin
+]" ?>
<log>
  <logentry revision="12345">
    <author>someAuthor</author>
    <date>2017-10-11T09:32:15.704935Z</date>
    <msg>This is my SVN message with characters like or &amp;.</msg>
  </logentry>
</log>
[download]

I could easily have something munged in my various Windows/Cygwin/vim settings to have messed up the 'ä', but I'm mentioning it just in case you need to know of it.

...roboticus

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

Thank you. Everything works fine. I have no problems with the "ä".