Data Munging with Perl 
David Cross 
Manning Publications
<p><i>Data Munging with Perl</i> book  shows you how to process data productively with Perl. It discusses  general munging techniques and how to think about data munging problems.  You will learn how to decouple the various stages of munging programs,  how to design data structures, how to emulate the Unix filter model,  etc. If you need to work with complex data formats it will teach you how  to do that and also how to build your own tools to process these  formats. The book includes detailed techniques for processing HTML and  XML. And, it shows you how to build your own parsers to process data of  arbitrary complexity.</p>                                                                                                                             about the technology                  <p>Your desktop dictionary may not include it, but 'munging' is a  common term in the programmer's world. Many computing tasks require  taking data from one computer system, manipulating it in some way, and  passing it to another. Munging can mean manipulating raw data to achieve  a final form. It can mean parsing or filtering data, or the many steps  required for data recognition. Or it can be something as simple as  converting hours worked plus pay rates into a salary cheque.</p>