Greetings. I am trying to parse the return from the API at companies house here in the UK to retrieve the name and address of company directors. In the example below these are the directors of Marks and Spencer PLC all of which is freely available as a matter of public record should you wish to look for it manually. I have this code: 
use warnings;
use strict;
use JSON;
#use vsutils;
use Data::Dumper;
use Ref::Util qw(is_arrayref is_hashref);

my $companyNumber = 'NF001553';
    my $request =  "https://api.company-information.service.gov.uk/com
+pany/".$companyNumber."/officers";
    my $curl = `curl -s --user some-long-secret-api-access-string:""  
+$request` || die "SOMETHING IS WRONG HERE\n";
    my $decodedJSON = decode_json($curl);
    print Dumper($decodedJSON);
    if (is_hashref($decodedJSON)){
        print "The JSON is a HashRef\n";
        foreach my $key (keys %$decodedJSON)
            {
            if (is_hashref($key))    {
                print "its another hash\n"    ;
                }
            elsif(is_arrayref($key)){
                print "its an array ref"
                }
            else{
                print Dumper($key);
                print $key." is neither a hashref nor an arrayref\n";
                }
            }
         }

[download]
The output from this code is: 
$VAR1 = {
          'start_index' => 0,
          'resigned_count' => 0,
          'links' => {
                       'self' => '/company/NF001553/officers'
                     },
          'etag' => '67c3a37590ae92fae81173063b52578626c754eb',
          'items' => [
                       {
                         'links' => {
                                      'self' => '/company/NF001553/app
+ointments/MCJ22UBRM60V1quXQ6ieYR-BHoU',
                                      'officer' => {
                                                     'appointments' =>
+ '/officers/MCJ22UBRM60V1quXQ6ieYR-BHoU/appointments'
                                                   }
                                    },
                         'name' => 'EPSTEIN, Maurice',
                         'appointed_on' => '1967-10-11',
                         'officer_role' => 'secretary',
                         'address' => {
                                        'locality' => 'London',
                                        'address_line_2' => 'Highgate'
+,
                                        'address_line_1' => '12 Holly 
+Lodge Gds'
                                      }
                       },
                       {
                         'links' => {
                                      'officer' => {
                                                     'appointments' =>
+ '/officers/9Bfo7qDNjzW8s8WIFiek6ZKbEWY/appointments'
                                                   },
                                      'self' => '/company/NF001553/app
+ointments/9Bfo7qDNjzW8s8WIFiek6ZKbEWY'
                                    },
                         'name' => 'BRIMPTON, Sieff, Lord',
                         'officer_role' => 'director',
                         'address' => {
                                        'address_line_2' => 'London',
                                        'address_line_1' => '47/67 Bak
+er St'
                                      },
                         'appointed_on' => '1967-10-11'
                       },
                       {
                         'appointed_on' => '1967-10-11',
                         'officer_role' => 'director',
                         'address' => {
                                        'locality' => 'London',
                                        'postal_code' => 'N6 4DE',
                                        'address_line_1' => '10 Willow
+dene, View Road'
                                      },
                         'links' => {
                                      'self' => '/company/NF001553/app
+ointments/QqY-uC7Tj-1FbwxiOyFNUuWVFrc',
                                      'officer' => {
                                                     'appointments' =>
+ '/officers/QqY-uC7Tj-1FbwxiOyFNUuWVFrc/appointments'
                                                   }
                                    },
                         'name' => 'COLNE, Nigel L'
                       },
                       {
                         'appointed_on' => '1967-10-11',
                         'officer_role' => 'director',
                         'address' => {
                                        'address_line_2' => '9 Clare H
+ill',
                                        'address_line_1' => 'Low Felli
+ng',
                                        'region' => 'Surrey',
                                        'locality' => 'Esher'
                                      },
                         'links' => {
                                      'officer' => {
                                                     'appointments' =>
+ '/officers/-cMo0zdxbMKtbThp9_05cBHTlqU/appointments'
                                                   },
                                      'self' => '/company/NF001553/app
+ointments/-cMo0zdxbMKtbThp9_05cBHTlqU'
                                    },
                         'name' => 'FROST, Albert E'
                       },
                       {
                         'address' => {
                                        'region' => 'Berkshire',
                                        'address_line_1' => 'Tarbay La
+ne',
                                        'address_line_2' => 'Oakley Gr
+een',
                                        'postal_code' => 'SL4 4QG',
                                        'locality' => 'Windsor'
                                      },
                         'officer_role' => 'director',
                         'appointed_on' => '1967-10-11',
                         'name' => 'GREENBURY, Richard',
                         'links' => {
                                      'self' => '/company/NF001553/app
+ointments/qtxoixgvR76q-V_Dr7ciKqBOIws',
                                      'officer' => {
                                                     'appointments' =>
+ '/officers/qtxoixgvR76q-V_Dr7ciKqBOIws/appointments'
                                                   }
                                    }
                       },
                       {
                         'name' => 'HOWARD, William B F',
                         'links' => {
                                      'self' => '/company/NF001553/app
+ointments/0GNS6rBm4TRJYuUyvGB3pkU7A5Y',
                                      'officer' => {
                                                     'appointments' =>
+ '/officers/0GNS6rBm4TRJYuUyvGB3pkU7A5Y/appointments'
                                                   }
                                    },
                         'address' => {
                                        'locality' => 'Gt Missenden',
                                        'address_line_2' => 'Ballinger
+',
                                        'region' => 'Bucks',
                                        'address_line_1' => 'Crawley F
+arm'
                                      },
                         'officer_role' => 'director',
                         'appointed_on' => '1967-10-11'
                       },
                       {
                         'links' => {
                                      'officer' => {
                                                     'appointments' =>
+ '/officers/gWYmZKrU4OMJtPSsTNkjdGG4Beo/appointments'
                                                   },
                                      'self' => '/company/NF001553/app
+ointments/gWYmZKrU4OMJtPSsTNkjdGG4Beo'
                                    },
                         'name' => 'LUSHER, John A',
                         'appointed_on' => '1967-10-11',
                         'officer_role' => 'director',
                         'address' => {
                                        'locality' => 'Chalfont St Gil
+es',
                                        'address_line_2' => 'Three Hou
+seholds',
                                        'region' => 'Bucks',
                                        'address_line_1' => 'Crumbledo
+wn'
                                      }
                       },
                       {
                         'appointed_on' => '1967-10-11',
                         'address' => {
                                        'address_line_2' => 'Edinburgh
+',
                                        'address_line_1' => '17 Barton
+ Pk Drive'
                                      },
                         'officer_role' => 'director',
                         'name' => 'LYNCH, Bryan J',
                         'links' => {
                                      'officer' => {
                                                     'appointments' =>
+ '/officers/vKKIOdwmGzk-ShkgLgoanrIwJT4/appointments'
                                                   },
                                      'self' => '/company/NF001553/app
+ointments/vKKIOdwmGzk-ShkgLgoanrIwJT4'
                                    }
                       },
                       {
                         'appointed_on' => '1967-10-11',
                         'address' => {
                                        'locality' => '47 Rue Plati',
                                        'address_line_1' => 'Garden Pa
+lace',
                                        'region' => 'Monaco',
                                        'address_line_2' => 'Apt 13'
                                      },
                         'officer_role' => 'director',
                         'name' => 'OATES, John K',
                         'links' => {
                                      'self' => '/company/NF001553/app
+ointments/Y9VhpD-GeAPfXwKwS6wvkB-rblM',
                                      'officer' => {
                                                     'appointments' =>
+ '/officers/Y9VhpD-GeAPfXwKwS6wvkB-rblM/appointments'
                                                   }
                                    }
                       },
                       {
                         'address' => {
                                        'locality' => 'London',
                                        'address_line_2' => '5a Grevil
+le Place',
                                        'address_line_1' => 'Greville 
+Cottage'
                                      },
                         'officer_role' => 'director',
                         'appointed_on' => '1967-10-11',
                         'name' => 'ORTON, Anthony S',
                         'links' => {
                                      'self' => '/company/NF001553/app
+ointments/R-YP23R5cK2Hf6JRrjOVpHyg9gA',
                                      'officer' => {
                                                     'appointments' =>
+ '/officers/R-YP23R5cK2Hf6JRrjOVpHyg9gA/appointments'
                                                   }
                                    }
                       },
                       {
                         'address' => {
                                        'address_line_1' => '47/67 Bak
+er St',
                                        'address_line_2' => 'London'
                                      },
                         'officer_role' => 'director',
                         'appointed_on' => '1967-10-11',
                         'name' => 'RAYNER, Lord',
                         'links' => {
                                      'officer' => {
                                                     'appointments' =>
+ '/officers/DJnCNLUlJj3unjEAQf0W2X6Dr3I/appointments'
                                                   },
                                      'self' => '/company/NF001553/app
+ointments/DJnCNLUlJj3unjEAQf0W2X6Dr3I'
                                    }
                       },
                       {
                         'name' => 'SACHER, Simon J',
                         'links' => {
                                      'self' => '/company/NF001553/app
+ointments/hLXlIkT2RWch61wdFyZir-tQwMI',
                                      'officer' => {
                                                     'appointments' =>
+ '/officers/hLXlIkT2RWch61wdFyZir-tQwMI/appointments'
                                                   }
                                    },
                         'appointed_on' => '1967-10-11',
                         'address' => {
                                        'address_line_1' => '30 Maida 
+Ave',
                                        'address_line_2' => 'London'
                                      },
                         'officer_role' => 'director'
                       },
                       {
                         'address' => {
                                        'locality' => 'Suburb',
                                        'address_line_2' => 'Hampstead
+ Gd',
                                        'address_line_1' => '12 Hampst
+ead Way',
                                        'region' => 'London'
                                      },
                         'officer_role' => 'director',
                         'appointed_on' => '1967-10-11',
                         'name' => 'SALISSE, John J',
                         'links' => {
                                      'self' => '/company/NF001553/app
+ointments/LFN1hukWiIuVnIPQGDWxwCw-xcw',
                                      'officer' => {
                                                     'appointments' =>
+ '/officers/LFN1hukWiIuVnIPQGDWxwCw-xcw/appointments'
                                                   }
                                    }
                       },
                       {
                         'links' => {
                                      'self' => '/company/NF001553/app
+ointments/dp4apdzMGWp6l2rzj3YoGCrjhws',
                                      'officer' => {
                                                     'appointments' =>
+ '/officers/dp4apdzMGWp6l2rzj3YoGCrjhws/appointments'
                                                   }
                                    },
                         'name' => 'SIEFF, David D',
                         'officer_role' => 'director',
                         'address' => {
                                        'address_line_1' => '47/67 Bak
+er St',
                                        'address_line_2' => 'London'
                                      },
                         'appointed_on' => '1967-10-11'
                       },
                       {
                         'address' => {
                                        'locality' => 'Maidenhead',
                                        'address_line_1' => 'Pinkneys 
+Foly',
                                        'region' => 'Berks',
                                        'address_line_2' => 'Pinkneys 
+Green'
                                      },
                         'officer_role' => 'director',
                         'appointed_on' => '1967-10-11',
                         'name' => 'SILVER, Clinton V',
                         'links' => {
                                      'officer' => {
                                                     'appointments' =>
+ '/officers/SgbLq8ZnCTRfN-dNcQPm42w3nB0/appointments'
                                                   },
                                      'self' => '/company/NF001553/app
+ointments/SgbLq8ZnCTRfN-dNcQPm42w3nB0'
                                    }
                       },
                       {
                         'appointed_on' => '1967-10-11',
                         'address' => {
                                        'address_line_1' => '2 Wildwoo
+d Rise',
                                        'locality' => 'London',
                                        'postal_code' => 'NW11 6SX'
                                      },
                         'officer_role' => 'director',
                         'name' => 'SMITH, Alan K P',
                         'links' => {
                                      'officer' => {
                                                     'appointments' =>
+ '/officers/63SD6wwKhAdg1hlmzyF3gWlG4aY/appointments'
                                                   },
                                      'self' => '/company/NF001553/app
+ointments/63SD6wwKhAdg1hlmzyF3gWlG4aY'
                                    }
                       },
                       {
                         'name' => 'SMITH, Alan K P',
                         'links' => {
                                      'officer' => {
                                                     'appointments' =>
+ '/officers/_uSPWXunF8LHVOOwXKKfgP8UaYA/appointments'
                                                   },
                                      'self' => '/company/NF001553/app
+ointments/_uSPWXunF8LHVOOwXKKfgP8UaYA'
                                    },
                         'address' => {
                                        'locality' => 'London',
                                        'postal_code' => 'NW11 6SX',
                                        'address_line_1' => '2 Wildwoo
+d Rise'
                                      },
                         'officer_role' => 'director',
                         'appointed_on' => '1967-10-11'
                       },
                       {
                         'name' => 'SPRIDDELL, Peter H',
                         'links' => {
                                      'self' => '/company/NF001553/app
+ointments/GW363KMkDCtDvOLQBh_Kgr4BFds',
                                      'officer' => {
                                                     'appointments' =>
+ '/officers/GW363KMkDCtDvOLQBh_Kgr4BFds/appointments'
                                                   }
                                    },
                         'appointed_on' => '1967-10-11',
                         'address' => {
                                        'address_line_1' => '37 Main A
+venue',
                                        'region' => 'Middlesex',
                                        'postal_code' => 'HA6 2LH',
                                        'locality' => 'Northwood'
                                      },
                         'officer_role' => 'director'
                       },
                       {
                         'name' => 'SUSMAN, David R',
                         'links' => {
                                      'officer' => {
                                                     'appointments' =>
+ '/officers/Ngd2iwiEoOPZdKZveZxP2w1Fyww/appointments'
                                                   },
                                      'self' => '/company/NF001553/app
+ointments/Ngd2iwiEoOPZdKZveZxP2w1Fyww'
                                    },
                         'address' => {
                                        'region' => 'Sth Africa',
                                        'address_line_1' => 'Little Go
+twick',
                                        'address_line_2' => '1a Marlbo
+ro Rd',
                                        'locality' => 'Kenilworth'
                                      },
                         'officer_role' => 'director',
                         'appointed_on' => '1967-10-11'
                       },
                       {
                         'name' => 'TRANGMAR, Donald G',
                         'links' => {
                                      'self' => '/company/NF001553/app
+ointments/MfuzicUlq7mGfzADuwyieSaHSXY',
                                      'officer' => {
                                                     'appointments' =>
+ '/officers/MfuzicUlq7mGfzADuwyieSaHSXY/appointments'
                                                   }
                                    },
                         'appointed_on' => '1967-10-11',
                         'address' => {
                                        'address_line_2' => 'St Johns 
+Wood Ok',
                                        'address_line_1' => '13 Walsin
+gham',
                                        'locality' => 'London'
                                      },
                         'officer_role' => 'director'
                       }
                     ],
          'inactive_count' => 0,
          'total_results' => 20,
          'kind' => 'officer-list',
          'active_count' => 20,
          'items_per_page' => 35
        };
The JSON is a HashRef
$VAR1 = 'start_index';
start_index is neither a hashref nor an arrayref
$VAR1 = 'resigned_count';
resigned_count is neither a hashref nor an arrayref
$VAR1 = 'links';
links is neither a hashref nor an arrayref
$VAR1 = 'etag';
etag is neither a hashref nor an arrayref
$VAR1 = 'items';
items is neither a hashref nor an arrayref
$VAR1 = 'inactive_count';
inactive_count is neither a hashref nor an arrayref
$VAR1 = 'total_results';
total_results is neither a hashref nor an arrayref
$VAR1 = 'kind';
kind is neither a hashref nor an arrayref
$VAR1 = 'active_count';
active_count is neither a hashref nor an arrayref
$VAR1 = 'items_per_page';
items_per_page is neither a hashref nor an arrayref

[download]
So what I think I am doing, is getting a hashRef back from decodeJSON, I then dereference that hash and for each key within it, try to determine if it is itself another hash or array. My expectation was that when I arrive at "items" I would find yet another hashRef or array, however what I appear to find is just a string, the name of the key. Can someone please point me in the right direction based on what data::dumper says is present in the return, and what I can actually access? Many thanks. Please be kind.

In reply to Parsing the data returned from the companies house API by irtuk

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.