++ and thanks for the additional details, QM. It sounds like Data::Dump (and Data::Dump::Filtered) will do what you want, if you give it a bit of help. Here's a documented example that should get you going:

Full example source

#!/usr/bin/env perl

use 5.012;
use warnings;

use Data::Dump qw/dump dumpf/;

# This simulates the "resource" key you mentioned in (3)
my $singleton = bless({ 
    note => 'Defined outside $hairy_object', 
    1..20 # To really drive the point home :-)
}, 'Singleton::Resource');

# A reasonably complex object, just enough to illustrate.
my $hairy_object = bless {
    attr1     => 'val1',
    resource  => $singleton,
    unwanted  => bless({ thing => 'We want to ignore' }, 'Unwanted'),
    however   => { this => {
        unwanted => bless({ is => 'actually wanted' }, 'Unwanted'),
    }},
    Silly => {
        complex => {
            references => 'can be mangled',
            so => "they make more sense.",
        }
    }
}, 'Hairy::Object';
# Throw in a couple of circular references
$hairy_object->{circular_ref} = $hairy_object;
$hairy_object->{internal_ref} = $hairy_object->{however}{this};

say "Before:";
say '-' x 76;
say dump($hairy_object);
say "\nAfter:";
say '-' x 76;

$Data::Dump::INDENT = '   '; # Edit to taste. '|  ' is nice, too.

# Set up callback; called for every node in the $hairy_object tree
# This is the heart of the logic that controls the dumpf() output
my $dump = dumpf($hairy_object, sub {
    no warnings 'uninitialized';
    my ($ctx, $obj) = @_;

    my %r;

    if ($ctx->depth == 0) {
        $r{hide_keys} = [ grep {
            ref($obj->{$_}) =~ /^(Unwanted|Something::Else)$/;
        } keys %$obj ];
});

# Munge the resulting dump a bit to remove extraneous bits
$dump =~ s/^\Q$Data::Dump::INDENT\E//mg; # Remove one indent
$dump =~ s/\Ado \{.+?my \$a = bless\(\{\n//s;
$dump =~ s/\$a;\n\}//ms;

say "\$a = bless( {\n$dump";

[download]

Output:

Before:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
+------
do {
  my $a = bless({
    attr1        => "val1",
    circular_ref => 'fix',
    however      => {
                      this => { unwanted => bless({ is => "actually wa
+nted" }, "Unwanted") },
                    },
    internal_ref => 'fix',
    resource     => bless({
                      1    => 2,
                      11   => 12,
                      13   => 14,
                      15   => 16,
                      17   => 18,
                      19   => 20,
                      3    => 4,
                      5    => 6,
                      7    => 8,
                      9    => 10,
                      note => "Defined outside \$hairy_object",
                    }, "Singleton::Resource"),
    Silly        => {
                      complex => { references => "can be mangled", so 
+=> "they make more sense." },
                    },
    unwanted     => bless({ thing => "We want to ignore" }, "Unwanted"
+),
  }, "Hairy::Object");
  $a->{circular_ref} = $a;
  $a->{internal_ref} = $a->{however}{this};
  $a;
}

After:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
+------
$a = bless( {
   attr1 => "val1",
   circular_ref => 'fix',
   however => # Here, there be dragons
   {
      this => { unwanted => bless({ is => "actually wanted" }, "Unwant
+ed") },
   },
   internal_ref => 'fix',
   resource => $singleton,
   Silly => "references can be mangled so they make more sense.",
}, "Hairy::Object");
$a->{circular_ref} = $a;
$a->{internal_ref} = $a->{however}{this};

[download]

In reply to Re^3: Object Browser for Perl? by rjt
in thread Object Browser for Perl? by QM

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