Is there a need for Data::Find::XPath?

[Paul Bennett]

Given the large clumps of data being thrown around in a project I'm  
working on, I'd like a sophisticated way to find sub-clumps of it. XPath  
springs immediately to mind, but it seems impractical to convert the whole  
mess into XML just to XPath it and convert the results back to Perl data.

On the other hand, the docs for Data::Find read like something rather  
close to what I'd need.

Would there be community interest in a module that was API-identical to  
Data::Find, except that it took XPath-like expressions instead of (or as  
well as, in some way, maybe?) the search criteria that that module takes?

Just struck me, while typing this out: Would I rather be better off trying  
to add support for XPath-like expressions to Data::Find and submitting a  
patch? Maybe some kind of Data::Find::Criteria:: namespace, objects of  
subclasses of which (such as Data::Find::Criteria::XPath,  
Data::Find::Criteria::Disgronifier, or whatever) could be fed as the  
search criteria to Data::Find? There'd need to be some cleverness in the  
API of those subclasses, but I reckon it's non-magical cleverness.



--
Paul (PWBENNETT)