#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use Data::Dumper;

my $rawdata = qq|
<COLUMNS>~ItemName1~ItemName2~ItemName3~ItemName4~ItemName5~</COLUMNS>
<DATA>~Apple~Orange~Banana~Pear~Watermelon~</DATA>
<DATA>~Blue~Red~Yellow~Brown~Purple~</DATA>
<DATA>~Uno~Dos~Tres~Cuatro~Cinco~</DATA>
|;

my @datalines = split("\n",$rawdata);
my @listings;
my $header;
foreach my $line (@datalines) {

    if ($line =~ /^<COLUMNS>(.+)<\/COLUMNS>/xg) {
        $header = $1;
    } elsif ($line =~ /^<DATA>(.+)<\/DATA>/xg) {
        push(@listings, $1);
    }

}

print Dumper(\$header);
print Dumper(\@listings);