$ perl -e 'use strict; > use warnings; > use Data::Dumper; > > my $string = < > SECTION 1 > > This is section 1 > > SECTION 2 > > This is section 2 > > STR > > > my %values = ($string =~ /(SECTION \d+)\s+([\w ]+)/mg); > print Dumper \%values; > ' $VAR1 = { 'SECTION 2' => 'This is section 2', 'SECTION 1' => 'This is section 1' };