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

my $multiline_seperator = "\n";
my ($fieldname, $fieldvalue, $line, %pkg);

while ($line = <DATA>) {

	# Lines following empty/space/astrisk-filled lines 
	#   assumed to be comments
	$fieldname = undef	
		if (($line =~ m/^\s+$/) or ($line =~ m/^\*+$/));
	chomp($line);

	# Assumes colons do not appear except in lines with field names
	if ($line =~ m/:/) {
		($fieldname, $fieldvalue) = split(/:/, $line, 2);

		# Remove trailing spaces from field name,
		#   leading spaces from field value
		$fieldname =~ s/\s+$//g;
		$fieldvalue =~ s/^\s+//g;
	} else {
		$fieldvalue = $line;
	}

	# Skip remaining steps if line was a comment
	next unless (defined($fieldname));

	if (exists($pkg{$fieldname})) {
		$pkg{$fieldname} .= $multiline_seperator . $fieldvalue;
	} else {
		$pkg{$fieldname} = $fieldvalue	
			if ((length($fieldvalue)) and (defined($fieldname)));
	}
}

# For testing only
foreach my $k (sort(keys(%pkg))) {
	print($k, "\t:\t", $pkg{$k}, "\n");
}

__DATA__
a-sendee:
data1
data1
data1
b-sender:
data2
c-date: data3
***************************************
Copyright blah blah blah

d-postage: data4
e-deliverydate: data5

***************************************
unimportant text
f-name: data6

g-paycode: data7
g-paycode: data8

location 1
h-state: data9
i-zip: data10

location 2
h-state: data11
i-zip: data12