Hi PMs
I'm processing XML (using XML::Simple) and find that one of the fields I process is sometimes duplicated and thus shows up as an array - sometimes...

I have solved it with the following snippet:- 

if(ref($content->{'A'}) eq 'ARRAY'){
  # this is an array so need the [0] in there
  $x=$content->{'A'}[0]{'R1'}{'T1'}{'S1'},
  $y=$content->{'A'}[0]{'R1'}{'T1'}{'content'}
  .
  . # more dereferencing further along the tree
}else{
  # this is not an array 
  $x=$content->{'A'}{'R1'}{'T1'}{'S1'},
  $y=$content->{'A'}{'R1'}{'T1'}{'content'}
  .
  . # more dereferening further along the tree
}

[download]
However - this duplicates the great big chunks of dereferencing code... When there are duplicates, I only need the first one so only need branches under $content->{'A'}[0]{etc}...

How to make it simpler without repeating code?
I tried using a string variable in place of the {A}[0] - something like :- 
$ifarray = "{'A'}[0]" else $ifarray = "{'A'}"

[download]
but that didn't work.
Suggestions, comments and solutions welcome!
Thanks in advance.
z

In reply to Test for array or hash - ok, but what to do about it? by zerocred

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