When using XML::Simple to parse an XML file, Data::Dumper is an essential module so that you can understand how XML::Simple is interpreting the XML. Take for example the following XML.

<acme>
  <name id="1">Bugs Bunny</character>
</acme>

Here is an example of how to use Data::Dumper.

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use XML::Simple;
use Data::Dumper;

my $xml= XMLin("example.xml");
print Dumper $xml;

Which will produce the following.

• "name" is the root key
• "content" and "id" are child keys below the root key
• "Bugs Bunny" is a value of the "content" key
• "1" is a value of the "id" key 
• Data inside of { } is interepreted as a hash

$VAR1 = {
          'name' => {
                     'content' => 'Bugs Bunny',
                     'id' => '1'
               }
        };

Dumper shows that the path to Bugs Bunny is name -> content -> Bugs Bunny, thus the following markup would be used to print "Bugs Bunny". 

print $xml->{'name'}->{'content'};