#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;

my @example = (
            'RepeatingGroup = Waiver, Flatten, out',
            'RepeatingGroup = Waiver, out',
            'RepeatingGroup = Waiver, out, Flatten',
            'RepeatingGroup = Waiver , in',
            'RepeatingGroup = Waiver , Flatten', 
            );            

foreach my $example (@example)
{
   $example =~ s/^RepeatingGroup =\s*//;
   print "This is what .ini parser says: $example\n";
   
   my ($name,$direction,$flatten) = parseRepeatingGroup($example);
   print "  name      = $name\n".
         "  direction = $direction\n",
         "  flatten   = $flatten\n";
}

sub parseRepeatingGroup
{
   my $value_text = shift;
   
   my ($name,$rest) = $value_text =~ /^\s*(\S+)(.*)+/;
   my $direction = ($value_text =~ /\bin\b/i) ? 'in' : 'out';
   my $flatten   = ($value_text =~ /\bFLATTEN\b/i)? 1: 0;

   return ($name,$direction,$flatten);
}

__END__
This is what .ini parser says: Waiver, Flatten, out
  name      = Waiver,
  direction = out
  flatten   = 1
This is what .ini parser says: Waiver, out
  name      = Waiver,
  direction = out
  flatten   = 0
This is what .ini parser says: Waiver, out, Flatten
  name      = Waiver,
  direction = out
  flatten   = 1
This is what .ini parser says: Waiver , in
  name      = Waiver
  direction = in
  flatten   = 0
This is what .ini parser says: Waiver , Flatten
  name      = Waiver
  direction = out
  flatten   = 1