ID=1 First=John Last=Doe AGE=42
ID=2 First=Jane Last=Doe AGE=35
ID=3 First=Jack Last=Doe AGE=17
ID=4 First=Jill Last=Doe AGE=15

##</code><code>##

#!/usr/bin/perl

use Data::Dumper;
use strict;
use warnings;

getPeople();

sub getPeople {
        my ( $id, $first, $last, $age );
        my $file = 'list.txt';
        my $people;
        my $cntr;
        open( LIST, "< $file" ) or die "Can't open $file : $!";
        #my @lines = split /\n/, $str;
        #foreach my $line (@lines) {
        while (my $row = <LIST> ) {
                $cntr++;
                my ($id, $first, $last, $age ) = split( /\s/, $row );
                $id = (split( /=/, $id ))[1];
                $first = (split( /=/, $first ))[1];
                $last = (split( /=/, $last ))[1];
                $age = (split( /=/, $age ))[1];
                $people = { "$cntr" => {
                                'id' => "$id",
                                'first' => "$first",
                                'last' => "$last",
                                'age' => "$age"
                                }
                };

}
print Dumper $people;
close LIST;
}

##</code><code>##

$VAR1 = {
          '4' => {
                   'first' => 'Jill',
                   'last' => 'Doe',
                   'id' => '4',
                   'age' => '15'
                 }
        };

##</code><code>##

$VAR1 = {
          '4' => {
                   'first' => 'Jill',
                   'last' => 'Doe',
                   'id' => '4',
                   'age' => '15'
                 }
          '3' => {
                   'first' => 'Jack',
                   'last' => 'Doe',
                   'id' => '3',
                   'age' => '17'
                 }
         '2' => {
                   'first' => 'Jane',
                   'last' => 'Doe',
                   'id' => '2',
                   'age' => '35'
                 }
         '1' => {
                   'first' => 'John',
                   'last' => 'Doe',
                   'id' => '1',
                   'age' => '42'
                 }
        };