Hi, thanks for the reply, as you have pointed out, i do not know a lot of perl, hence why there is a lot of repetition. a little more info (that i should have said before). I am sent a zip file with lots of jpgs and one xml file. i extract them to the folder E:\cars on my pc and then run the script. usually this works fine, renames all the images and then creates a csv file for each vehicle. The problem i have is that when i try to process an xml file that has details of only one vehicle in, ie 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!--DMS Auction Export - Version 1.2-->
<root>
    <Header>
    <MemberID>005</MemberID>
    <ExportID>7908</ExportID>
    </Header>
    <Vehicle>
    <AuctionID>21261</AuctionID>
    
    <VehicleID>149611</VehicleID>
    
    <Ref></Ref>
    
    <Manufacturer>FORD</Manufacturer>
    
    <Model>FIESTA</Model>
    
    <RegNo>EA05BYM</RegNo>
    
    <RegYear>2005</RegYear>
    
    <Colour>Red</Colour>
    
    <Fuel>Petrol</Fuel>
    
    <Damage></Damage>
    
    <Doors>3</Doors>
    
    <Body>Hatchback</Body>
    
    <CC>1999</CC>
    
    <Speedo></Speedo>
    
    <TransSpeed>5 Speed</TransSpeed>
    
    <TransType>Manual</TransType>
    
    <TrimLevel>CLOTH</TrimLevel>
    
    <Engine></Engine>
    
    <Cat>C</Cat>
    
    <ReservePrice>2565</ReservePrice>
    
    <StartPrice>0</StartPrice>
    
    <HasVAT>0</HasVAT>
    
    <Keys>1</Keys>
    
    <Starts>0</Starts>
    
    <Drives>0</Drives>
    
    <Stereo>0</Stereo>
    
    <VINPlate>1</VINPlate>
    
    <LogBook>0</LogBook>
    
    <DateAuction>27.03.2009</DateAuction>
    
    <Location>BURSCOUGH</Location>
    
    <CanBeViewed>YES</CanBeViewed>
    
    <CostExVAT>0</CostExVAT>
    
    <PAV>0</PAV>
    <Images>
    <Image_1>650161.jpg</Image_1>
    
    <Image_2>650162.jpg</Image_2>
    
    <Image_3>650163.jpg</Image_3>
    
    <Image_4>650164.jpg</Image_4>
    
    <Image_5>650165.jpg</Image_5>
    
    <Image_6></Image_6>
    
    <Image_7></Image_7>
    
    <Image_8></Image_8>
    
    <Image_9></Image_9>
    
    <Image_10></Image_10>
    
    <Image_11></Image_11>
    
    <Image_12></Image_12>
    </Images></Vehicle>
    <Summary>
    <NumberOfVehicles>1</NumberOfVehicles>
    <DateExport>19.03.2009 14:12:50</DateExport>
    </Summary>
    </root>

[download]
the script stops. it doesn't give an error. it prints "other cars" than nothing else. i have determined that the script stops at the point where the XML fields are read into perl variables. making print statements at various points. It seems to be that because there is only one item in the foreach loop it is not going to work. I will also look at your suggestions, however i do not understand some of them. Thanks Again Michael

In reply to Re^2: XML Parsing, by dmsparts
in thread XML Parsing, by dmsparts

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