Yeah, I guess if XML::Simple must load the entire data structure into memory, I don't think it's quite what I'm looking for. It just takes too long.

Maybe an example might help. Suppose I have the following XML input file: 

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<library>
<book>
        <title>Dreamcatcher</title>
        <author>Stephen King</author>
        <genre>Horror</genre>
        <pages>899</pages>
        <price>23.99</price>
        <rating>5</rating>
        <publication_date>11/27/2001</publication_date>
</book>
<book>
        <title>Mystic River</title>
        <author>Dennis Lehane</author>
        <genre>Thriller</genre>
        <pages>390</pages>
        <price>17.49</price>
        <rating>4</rating>
        <publication_date>07/22/2003</publication_date>
</book>
<book>
        <title>The Lord Of The Rings</title>
        <author>J. R. R. Tolkien</author>
        <genre>Fantasy</genre>
        <pages>3489</pages>
        <price>10.99</price>
        <rating>5</rating>
        <publication_date>10/12/2005</publication_date>
</book>
</library>

[download]

Suppose I only want to import books that were published after January 1, 2002. If I apply such a filter when I do my initial import, the result should look like this: 

$VAR1 = {
          'book' => [
                    {
                      'publication_date' => '07/22/2003',
                      'price' => '17.49',
                      'author' => 'Dennis Lehane',
                      'title' => 'Mystic River',
                      'rating' => '4',
                      'pages' => '390',
                      'genre' => 'Thriller'
                    },
                    {
                      'publication_date' => '10/12/2005',
                      'price' => '10.99',
                      'author' => 'J. R. R. Tolkien',
                      'title' => 'The Lord Of The Rings',
                      'rating' => '5',
                      'pages' => '3489',
                      'genre' => 'Fantasy'
                    }
                  ]
        };

[download]

The import will completely ignore entries that don't meet the specified criteria (in this case, publication_date must be >= '1/1/2002'). Can DOM or SAX-based parsing do this?

In reply to Re^4: How do I create an array of hashes from an input text file? by MrSnrub
in thread How do I create an array of hashes from an input text file? by MrSnrub

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