#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use Template;

my $folks = [
    {
        name => 'bob',
        fruit =>'kiwi',
        friends => [qw/ sally jessie raphael/],
    },
    {
        name => 'sally',
        fruit => 'kumquat',
        friends =>[],
    },
    {
        name => 'misery',
        fruit => 'company',
        friends =>[qw/ avarice sloth /],
    },
    {
        name => 'batman',
        fruit => 'robin',
        friends =>[qw/ catwoman /],
    },
];

#and you pass that in to a template as 'folks',  you can have a loop like this:

my $template = Template->new();

my $output;

$template->process(\*DATA, {folks=>$folks}, \$output) || die $template->error;

print $output;

__DATA__
[%- FOREACH person = folks %]
======================

    [%- person.name %] likes [% person.fruit %]
        [%- FOREACH friend = person.friends -%]
            [%- IF loop.first %]
[% person.name %] is a friend of:[% END -%]
                [%- IF loop.last && person.friends.size > 1  %] and[% END %] [% friend %][% IF not loop.last and person.friends.size > 2 %],[% END -%]

        [%- END -%]
    [%- IF loop.last  %]
======================
    [%- END -%]

[%- END  %]