unless (defined($key) && defined($val)) {
    warn "Problem in input: <$index>\n";
  } else {
    $key =~ s"^\s+""g;
    $key =~ s"\s+$""g;
    $val =~ s"^\s+""g;
    $val =~ s"\s+$""g;
    $hash_ref->{$key} = $val;
  }