chomp $readline; my ($key , $value) = (split /::/, $readline); defined $key and $data_ids{$key} = $value; #### chomp $readline; my ($key , $value) = (split /::/, $readline); $data_ids{$key} = $value if $key; #### chomp $readline; if ( my ($key , $value) = (split /::/, $readline) ) { $data_ids{$key} = $value; }