I have some XML that is being returned from a REST API and sometimes there is a single result and sometime there are multiple results.

I am having a hard time determining how to get the data that I need and know if there is an array or not. Example: 

$item->{result}->[0]->{value}
$item->{result}->[1]->{value}

[download]
versus 
$item->{result}->{value}

[download]

I really need to get the value if there is one or know there are more than one value so I can collect them into an array.

What is the best practice for this sort of thing?

Update:

I have been using XML::Simple so far with my code and I do find that it is inconsistent and hard to work with. I will be trying out XML::Rules here shortly per your generous recommendations.

In reply to hashref with(out) arrays by bfdi533

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