I think the phrase (instead of 'obfuscated') you want is 'general, debugged, maintained, comprehensive and written by someone else so I don't need to bother'.

Probably Bio::Phylo::IO (the module you would actually use) doesn't use exactly the structure you currently use (or think you would like to use) for the internal representation of the trees. But it is likely that the structure the module uses is more generally useful and that the work you want to perform on the structure is already supported among the Bioperl modules.

Update: It is true I've not used Bioperl modules. I looked at the docs for a few before I answered and on the face of it they seemed at reasonably documented. I was reacting to what appeared to me to be a "modules are too complicated" and NIH attitude in the OP's node. My apologies.

Perl reduces RSI - it saves typing

In reply to Re^3: Parsing newick trees by GrandFather
in thread Parsing newick trees by citromatik

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