elsif (ref $ref eq '' && $ref) {
should probably be
elsif (ref $ref eq '' && length $ref) {
to cover '0' and 0.

What about escaping < and >?

I find it odd that you return the converted value, since you're converting in place.

Also, your variable $ref is misnamed, since it's not necessarily a ref.

I've also added support for scalar refs.

use Encode;

sub digConvert
{
    our $val; local *val = \$_[0];

    if (ref $val eq 'HASH') {
        foreach (keys %$val) {
            digConvert($val->{$_});
        }
    } elsif (ref $val eq 'ARRAY') {
        foreach my $i (0 .. $#{$val}) {
            digConvert($val->[$i]);
        }
    } elsif (ref $val eq 'SCALAR') {
        digConvert($$val);
    } elsif (!ref $val && length $val) {
        # don't upset XML parser
        # problably more to come
        $val =~ s/&/&/g;
        $val =~ s/</&lt;/g;
        $val =~ s/>/&gt;/g;
        $val = Encode::encode_utf8($val);
    } else {
        ### something I missed?
    }
}
[download]

thanks for the length. I really should form a habit of using it.


What about escaping < and >?

They didn't appear in my data yet but you're right, they're likely to be taken care of.

And finally, you're absolutely right about the scalar parameters. Thanks again.


--
trust in bash
but tie your camel

Just to complete the sub to adapt on real world data.

return unless defined $val;
[download]

helps on undefined values.

-- slayven
        trust in bash
        but tie your camel

If you are willing to venture outside of CPAN ;--) I have a module that lets you walk an unknown data structure: Data::Traverse. It does basically what your code does, but wraps it to give you an iterator.

Sounds like a really useful module. I don't think I'll use it for my unsignificant task here but it sure will be bookmarked. Thanks for the hint and of course for coding it in the first place.

--
trust in bash
but tie your camel

You could use Data::Structure::Util:

use Data::Structure::Util qw/ utf8_on /;
$ref = { whatever => 'אטילעש' };
utf8_on( $ref );
[download]

The Description of the Module says

use Data::Structure::Util qw/ utf8_on /;

This routine performs a sv_utf8_upgrade on each scalar string in the passed data structure that does not have the utf8 flag turned on.

This is not exactly what I'm looking for. I need to convert the string regardless the flag it has internally.

-- slayven
        trust in bash
        but tie your camel