Input:
<table>
<thead>
<ROW><ENTRY colspan="3"><p>a</p></ENTRY></ROW>
<ROW><ENTRY colspan="2" rowspan="2"><p>b</p></ENTRY><ENTRY></ENTRY></ROW>
<ROW><ENTRY colspan="2" rowspan="2"><p></p></ENTRY></ROW><ROW><ENTRY>c</ENTRY></ROW>
</thead>
</table>
Output:

<table>
<thead>
<ROW>
<ENTRY colend="3" colstart="1">
<p>a</p>
</ENTRY>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<ENTRY colend="2" colstart="1">
<p>b</p>
</ENTRY>
<ENTRY></ENTRY>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<ENTRY colend="2" colstart="1">
<p></p>
</ENTRY>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<ENTRY>c</ENTRY>
</ROW>
</thead>
</table>



##</code><code>##

if ($b->get_xpath("//table"))
{
		foreach my $table ($b->get_xpath("//table"))
		{
			if ($table->get_xpath("thead"))
			{
				foreach my $thead ($table->get_xpath("thead"))
				{
					if ($thead->get_xpath("ROW"))
					{
						foreach my $row ($thead->get_xpath("ROW"))
						{
							if ($row->get_xpath("ENTRY"))
							{
								foreach my $entry ($row->get_xpath("ENTRY"))
								{
									if ($entry->att("colspan"))
									{
										my $colspan= $entry->att("colspan");
										my	$cl=$colspan - 1;
										while ($cl--)
										{
											my $elt=new XML::Twig::Elt("ENTRY","DELETE");
											$elt->paste(after=>$entry);
										}
									}
								}
							}
						}
						if ($thead->get_xpath("ROW"))
						{
							foreach my $row ($thead->get_xpath("ROW"))
							{
							if ($row->get_xpath("ENTRY"))
							{
							foreach my $entry ($row->get_xpath("ENTRY"))
							{
								my $colpl=$entry->prev_siblings("ENTRY");
								
								if ($entry->att("rowspan"))
								{
									
									my $rowspan= $entry->att("rowspan");
									
									my $rw=$rowspan - 1;
									
									my $temp=$row;
									while ($rw--)
									{
										
										$temp=$temp->next_sibling("ROW");
										
										my $elt=new XML::Twig::Elt("ENTRY","RDELETE");
										my $t;
										
										if ($colpl)
										{
											$t=$colpl;
											my @t=$temp->children;
											my ($place)=$temp->get_xpath("ENTRY[$t]");
											$elt->paste(after=>$place);
										}
										else 
										{
											$t=1;
											my ($place)=$temp->get_xpath("ENTRY[$t]");
											$elt->paste(before=>$place);
										};
									}
								}
							}
							foreach my $entry ($row->get_xpath("ENTRY"))
							{
								if (grep{/colspan/i}$entry->att_names)
								{
									my $p=$entry->att("colspan");
									my $colpl=$entry->prev_siblings("ENTRY");
									$entry->set_atts({"colstart"=>$colpl+1,"colend"=>$colpl+$p});
									$entry->del_att("colspan");
								}
							}
							foreach my $entry ($row->get_xpath("ENTRY"))
							{
								 if ($entry->text=~/^R?DELETE$/)
								 {
								 $entry->delete;
								}
							}
						}
					}
				}
			}
		}
		}
	}
}