XML::Simple or similar is undoubtedly the laziest path but if you do actually want to get your hands dirty you could do something like:
use feature qw(say);
use Data::Dumper;

my $data =<<'XML-type';
<item><key1>someValue</key1><key2>someValue</key2><key3>someValue</key
+3>
<key4>someValue</key4></item><item><key1>someValue</key1><key2>someVal
+ue
</key2><key3>someValue</key3><key4>someValue</key4></item><item>
<key1>someValue</key1><key2>someValue</key2><key3>someValue</key3><key
+4>someValue</key4></item>
XML-type

my @processed;
local $/ = '</item>';

open STRH , '<', \($data);
my @items = <STRH>;
close STRH;


@processed = map { 
        my $item =$_;
        $item =~ s/<.?item>//g;
        push @processed, 
                 {$item =~ m { <([^>]+)>([^<]+)< }gx};
        } @items;

print Dumper \@processed;

[download]
Prints:
$VAR1 = [
          {
            'key2' => 'someValue',
            'key4' => 'someValue',
            'key1' => 'someValue',
            'key3' => 'someValue'
          },
          {
            'key2' => 'someValue
',
            'key4' => 'someValue',
            'key1' => 'someValue',
            'key3' => 'someValue'
          },
          {
            'key2' => 'someValue',
            'key4' => 'someValue',
            'key1' => 'someValue',
            'key3' => 'someValue'
          },
          {}
        ];

[download]
For bonus points work out why there is an empty hash at the end.(I haven't got time just now!)
Have fun

In reply to Re: How do I create an array of hashes from an input text file? by mrstlee
in thread How do I create an array of hashes from an input text file? by MrSnrub

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