Miscellany

die "different counts for out_user_steps and out_dates"
  unless @{ $xml->{out_user_steps} } == @{ $xml->{out_dates} };

my %dates;
for my $idx (0..$#{ $xml->{out_dates} }) {                                                                                                  
    $dates{$xml->{out_dates}[$idx]{content}} = $xml->{out_user_steps}[$idx]{$content}
}