my $blank = ' ';

my $fldSep = "\x1c";
my $recSep = "\x1e";
my $SAV;
my $RETRIEVE;

open $SAV, '>', 'tempsav.hsh'  or die "Can't open save file";
store_rec($VAR1);
store_rec($VAR2);
close $SAV;

sub store_rec {
   my $hashRef = shift;
   my ($key,$val);
   while (($key,$val) = each %$hashRef) {
      $val = ''   if !defined $val;
      # guard against non=printing fld/rec sep in values
      $val =~ s/$fldSep/?/g;     
      $val =~ s/$recSep/?/g;     
      print $SAV "$key $val$recSep";
   }
   print $SAV $fldSep;
   1;
} # store

open $RETRIEVE, '<', 'tempsav.hsh'  or die "Can't open save file";
$/ = $recSep;
while (<$RETRIEVE>) {
   my ($key,$val);
   $_ =~ s/$recSep$//;     
   
   for my $fld (split $fldSep, $_) {
      ($key,$val) = split(' ',$fld,2);
      # Remove rec sep in values
      print "$key => |$val|\n";
   } 
}
close $RETRIEVE;