This is all really good advice, but at the moment I have been playing around with XML::Simple. The problem that I am having is I cannot generate the data structure that I had before with the hash it keeps on putting things in a nested array. This is what I used to have before using XML::Simple 
$VAR1 = '1';
$VAR2 = {
          'host' => {
                      'hosta' => 1
                    },
          'name' => 'servicea'
        };
$VAR3 = '2';
$VAR4 = {
          'host' => {
                      'host0' => 2,
                      'host5' => 2
                    },
          'name' => 'serviceb'
        };

[download]
When using XML::Simple I get this: 
$VAR1 = {
          'name' => 'servicea',
          'host' => [
                    {
                      'hosta' => '2'
                    },
                    {
                      'hostb' => '2'
                    }
                  ]

[download]
I am using the following XML with XML::simple. 
<?xml version='1.0'?>
<services>
<name>servicea</name>
<host>
        <hosta>2</hosta>
</host>
<host>
        <hosta>2</hosta>
</host>
</services>

[download]
Is there any way I can change the XML, so XML::simple only uses hash of hashes instead of hashes and arrays? Thanks

In reply to Re^2: Reading from a flat text file database and storing contents in a hash by wishartz
in thread Reading from a flat text file database and storing contents in a hash by wishartz

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