my @records; # Declare an array to hold records from the input file.
{            # Start a new lexical block to limit the scope
             # of the next line.
    local $/ = "\n\n";  # Set the input record separator to
             # be a blank line.  This allows you to read 
             # records in, delimited by blank lines.
    open IN, "<file.dat" or die "Cannot open data file.\n$!";
             # Open the input file for reading.  Die if an error occurs.
    while ( my $record = <IN> ) {
             # Read the file in record by record, into $record.
        my @kv_pairs = split /\n/, $record;
             # Split each record into its six lines, and store
             # each line as an array element.
        push @records, [@kv_pairs];
             # Create an anonymous array that is a copy of @kv_pairs.
             # Push the anonymous array containing a complete set
             # of keys/values for a given record into the @records array
             # as an array of arrays.
    }        # End the while loop.
    close IN; # Close the infile, we're done with it.
}            # Close the lexical block that constrains the
             # effects of the "local $/ = ....." definition.