use strict; use warnings; 

my $state=''; 
my %tables; 
my @titles; 
while (my $line=<DATA>) { 
  chomp $line; 
  if    (-1 != index($line,'place and year data: 67')) {$state='place';@titles=();}
  elsif (-1 != index($line,'work and language :65'))   {$state='work';@titles=();}
  elsif (-1 != index($line,'Position log'))            {$state='position';@titles=();}
  elsif (-1 != index($line,'|')){ 
    $line=~s/^\s*//;  # take off leading spaces 
    $line=~s/\s*$//;  # take off trailing spaces 
    $line=~s/^\|//;   # take off leading bar 
    my @thisset=split('\|',$line); 
    for my $part (@thisset){ 
      $part=~s/_//g;    # remove any underscores 
      $part=~s/^\s*//;  # take off leading spaces 
      $part=~s/\s*$//;  # take off trailing spaces 
      } 
    unless ($thisset[0]=~m/^\d+$/) {  
        # if first not digits this is a title part 
        my $ix=0; 
        for my $part (@thisset) {
          if ($part ne '') { 
            unless (defined($titles[$ix])) {$titles[$ix]=$part; } 
              else {$titles[$ix].=' '.$part; } 
            } 
          $ix++; 
          } # part 
        } # not digits 
    else { 
        # first is digits so this is data 
        my %hashpart; 
        my $ix=0; 
        for my $part (@thisset) {
          $hashpart{$titles[$ix]}=$part; 
          $ix++; 
          } # part 
        push @{$tables{$state}},\%hashpart; 
        } # digits  
    } # not sep 
  } # line 
use Data::Dumper; 
print Dumper(\%tables); 
  

__DATA__

place and year data: 67

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
|no.|  name | age  | place | year |
|_ _|_ _ _ _|_ _ _ | _ _ _ |  _ _ |
|1  |  sue  |33    | NY    | 2015 |
|2  |  mark |28    | cal   | 2106 |


work and language :65
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 
|no.| name | languages | proficiency | time taken|
|_ _| _ _ _| _ _ _ _ _ |_ _ _ _ _ _ _| _ _ _ _ _ |      
|1  | eliz | English   | good        | 24 hrs    |
|2  | susan| Spanish   | good        | 13 hrs    |
|3  | danny| Italian   | decent      | 21 hrs    |

Position log

   |   |      |Pos     |value   |   |bulk|lot|   prev| newest|
   |#  |Locker|(dfg)   |(no)    |nul|val |Id |   val |val   |
   -----------------------------------------------------------
   |  0|     1|  302832|  -11.88|  1|   0|Pri|     16|      0|
   |  1|     9|  302836|   11.88|  9|   0|Pri|     10|      0|
   |  2|     1|  302832|  -11.88|  5|   3|Pri|     14|      4|
   |  3|     3|  302833|   11.88|  1|   0|sec|     12|      0|
   |  4|     6|  302837|  -11.88|  1|   0|Pri|     16|      3|