$|=1; use XML::Rules; $xml = <<'*END*'; <doc boo="789"> <person active="1"> <fname>Jane</fname> <lname>Luser</lname> <email>JLuser@bogus.com</email> <address> <street>Washington st.</street> <city>Old Creek</city> <country>The US</country> <bogus>bleargh</bogus> </address> </person> <person active="0"> <fname>John</fname> <lname>Other</lname> <email>JOther@silly.com</email> <address> <street>Grant's st.</street> <city>New Creek</city> <country>Canada</country> <bogus>sdrysdfgtyh <foo>degtrhy werthy</foo> drthyu</bogus> </address> </person> </doc> *END* use Data::Dumper; %rules = ( _default => 'raw', # lname => sub {$_[1]->{_content} = "Sir. $_[1]->{_content}"; return (':'.$_[0] => $_[1], [$_[0] => $_[1]])}, lname => sub {$_[1]->{_content} = "Sir. $_[1]->{_content}"; return [$_[0] => $_[1]]}, '^bogus' => undef, # means "ignore". The subtags ARE NOT processed. '^person' => sub { return $_[1]->{active}; }, doc => sub { print $_[4]->toXML($_[0], $_[1]); return; }, #'pass no content', ); my $parser = new XML::Rules ( rules => \%rules, # other options ); my $result = $parser->parsestring($xml);