This has me confounded. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have a blessed hash: $data

print Data::Dumper($data)
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gives me this:

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 bless( {
                 'namespace' => {
                                  'jmm' => {
                                             'types' => {},
                                             'handles' => {
                                                            'shader' =
+> {
                                                                      
+    'ui' => {
                                                                      
+              'synthetic' => '',
                                                                      
+              'desc' => 'shader name',
                                                                      
+              'order' => 0,
                                                                      
+              'name' => 'shader'
                                                                      
+            },
                                                                      
+    'order' => 0,
                                                                      
+    'type' => 'string',
                                                                      
+    'default' => undef,
                                                                      
+    'datatype' => 'string',
                                                                      
+    'semantic' => ''
                                                                      
+  }
                                                          }
                                           }
                                },
                 'name' => 'jmm',
                 'path' => 'jmm_mtl'
               }, 'material' );

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 XML::Simple->new(XMLDecl=>1,
                               NoSort=>1,
                               KeepRoot=>1,
                               NoAttr=>1,
                               RootName=>ref($self)
               );
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gives me this:

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

<?xml version=\'1.0\' standalone=\'yes\'?>
<material>
  <namespace>
    <types></types>
    <handles>
      <order>0</order>
      <ui>
        <synthetic></synthetic>
        <desc>shader name</desc>
        <order>0</order>
        <name>shader</name>
      </ui>
      <name>shader</name>
      <default></default>
      <type>string</type>
      <semantic></semantic>
      <datatype>string</datatype>
    </handles>
    <name>jmm</name>
  </namespace>
  <name>jmm</name>
  <path>jmm_mtl</path>
</material>


///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
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Notice the placement of the singleton entry in both namespace hash and the handles hash namely 'jmm' and 'shader' repectively into a "name" tag. So when I load up the XML data:

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
    my $xml = XML::Simple->new(XMLDecl=>1,
                               NoSort=>1,
                               KeepRoot=>1,
                               NoAttr=>1,
                               RootName=>"mtl"
                               );
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
[download]

I get this:

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 bless( {
                 'namespace' => {
                                'handles' => {
                                             'ui' => {
                                                     'order' => '0',
                                                     'desc' => 'shader
+ name',
                                                     'name' => 'shader
+'
                                                   },
                                             'order' => '0',
                                             'name' => 'shader',
                                             'type' => 'string',
                                             'datatype' => 'string'
                                           },
                                'name' => 'jmm'
                              },
                 'name' => 'jmm',
                 'path' => 'jmm_mtl'
               }, 'material' );
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
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This does not happen if there is more than one key in either of the nested hashes. Two or more keys in the nexted hash returns the identical structure I had when I started. Have I found a bug? If not how do I force the module not to exhibit this behavior or must I accept this reality "as it is" ? Jean-Michel