#!/usr/bin/perl # http://perlmonks.org/?node_id=1190504 use strict; use warnings; use Data::Dumper; my %hosts = map /(\S+)\s+#*(.*)/, ; print Dumper \%hosts; __DATA__ XYZ1ADAIQ1 #AMI XYZ1ADECQ1 #OAG XYZ1ADEDQ1 XYZ1ADEDQ2 ##DMS Host