$|=1; use XML::Rules; $xml = <<'*END*'; <root> <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> </root> *END* use Data::Dumper; %rules = ( _default => 'raw', '^bogus' => undef, # means "ignore". The subtags ARE NOT processed. '^person' => sub { return $_[1]->{active}; }, person => sub { if (not exists($_[3]->[-1]{':printed'})) { print $_[4]->parentsToXML(); $_[3]->[-1]{':printed'} = 1; } print $_[4]->toXML($_[0], $_[1]), "\n"; }, doc => sub { print "</doc>\n", $_[4]->closeParentsToXML(); }, #'pass no content', ); my $parser = new XML::Rules ( rules => \%rules, # other options ); my $result = $parser->parsestring($xml);