Jaap, thanks for your response.
Here is what my debugger thinks of $ssxmlified. sorry about the name.
$ssxmlified = "<perldata>\n <hashref memory_address=\"0x1b932f8\">\n <item key=\"ferret\">\n <arrayref memory_address=\"0x1b9f174\">\n <item key=\"0\">sredni</item>\n <item key=\"1\">vashtar</item>\n </arrayref>\n </item>\n <item key=\"hen\">anabaptist</item>\n </hashref>\n</perldata>\n";

here is $rexmlified
$rexmlified = "<perldata>\n <hashref memory_address=\"0x21e8434\">\n <item key=\"ferret\">\n <arrayref memory_address=\"0x329ac98\">\n <item key=\"0\">sredni</item>\n <item key=\"1\">vashtar</item>\n </arrayref>\n </item>\n <item key=\"hen\">anabaptist</item>\n </hashref>\n</perldata>\n";

which look pretty much identical to me, except those memory addresses. i thought xml_compare ignored these. will delve into the sub itself. any further thoughts very welcome.

In reply to Re: Re: XML::Dumper: Nifty or Naughty? by wufnik
in thread XML::Dumper: Nifty or Naughty? by wufnik

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