I have an xml input file that I need to parse and the structure is pretty complex. I have been working my way through the structure fairly well but have run into a situation that I do not know how to handle. I am using code to dereference parts of the xml structure to more easily deal with them.

One part is throwing me though. I have a set that is a Row(s) of Detail info that can either contain a hash or an array of hashes. I had been dealing with this as an array of hashes but when it gets to a single hash rather than an array the code crashes with an "Not an ARRAY reference at ..." error.

Here is the code: 

if ($checks->{Detail}) {
    foreach my $detail (@{$checks->{Detail}->{Row}}) {
        foreach my $col (@{$detail->{Col}}) {
            print "$col \n";
        }
    }
}

[download]
And here is a piece of the data: 
        <Check>
                <Detail>
                        <Head>
                                <Col>User</Col>
                                <Col>Weak Password</Col>
                                <Col>Locked Out</Col>
                                <Col>Disabled</Col>
                        </Head>
                        <Row Grade="0">
                                <Col>Guest</Col>
                                <Col>Weak</Col>
                                <Col>-</Col>
                                <Col>Disabled</Col>
                        </Row>
                        <Row Grade="0">
                                <Col>SUPPORT_388945a0</Col>
                                <Col>-</Col>
                                <Col>-</Col>
                                <Col>Disabled</Col>
                        </Row>
                        <Row Grade="5">
                                <Col>Administrator</Col>
                                <Col>-</Col>
                                <Col>-</Col>
                                <Col>-</Col>
                        </Row>
                </Detail>
        </Check>
        <Check>
                <Detail>
                        <Head>
                                <Col>Drive Letter</Col>
                                <Col>File System</Col>
                        </Head>
                        <Row Grade="5">
                                <Col>C:</Col>
                                <Col>NTFS</Col>
                        </Row>
                </Detail>
        </Check>

[download]

How can I go about handling the multiple rows versus the single row situation with efficient code?

Is there a way to check to see if a variable is an array a has and execute an if/then/else code segment?

In reply to parsing complex xml structure with xml::simple by bfdi533

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