gistfile1.pl

use v6;

my $xml = '
<test>test</test>
<hat test="20"> hat text here </hat>
<shoe>
 <test>asdf</test>
 <test>asdf2</test>
 <test>asdf3</test>
 <test>asdf4</test>
 <test>asdf5</test>
 <test2>test</test2>
</shoe>
';

sub parse-xml ($xml, %parent = {}) {
    my $xml-patt =
      / '<' $<tag>=.+? [<.ws> $<attributes>=.*?]? '>' $<content>=.*?
        '</' $<tag> '>' /;
    for $xml.match($xml-patt, :global) -> $match {
        my $tag = $match<tag>.lc;
        my $attributes = ~$match<attributes>;
        my $value = ~$match<content>;

        if $value ~~ $xml-patt {
            %parent{$tag} = parse-xml $value;
        } else {
            if %parent.exists($tag) {
                %parent{$tag} = [ %parent{$tag} ]
                  unless %parent{$tag} ~~ Array;
                %parent{$tag}.push($value);
            } else {
                %parent{$tag} = $value;
            }
        }
    }
    return %parent;
}

say parse-xml($xml).perl;