#!/usr/bin/env perl

use 5.010;
use strict;
use warnings;

use Getopt::Long;

my %opts;

GetOptions(\%opts, qw{conf|c=s});

my $master_conf = $opts{conf};

say $master_conf;

##</code><code>##

$ pm_getopt_var.pl --conf conf_value
conf_value

##</code><code>##

$master_conf = $opts->{conf};

##</code><code>##

my $json_data = extract_json("$master_conf");

##</code><code>##

# shebang and use <whatever> lines here

my $opts = getoptions();

my $master_conf = $opts->{conf};

# do something with $master_conf here (validation perhaps)

my $json_data = extract_json($master_conf);
my $decoded_json_obj = decode_json($json_data);

# do something with $decoded_json_obj here

# subroutine definitions here