my @matrix;
foreach my $line(@filecontents) {
    chomp $line;
    push @matrix, [ split /\s+/, $line ];
}

##</code><code>##

$VAR1 = [
          [
            '0',
            '48.23',
            '17.90'
          ],
          [
            '48.23',
            '0',
            '49.58'
          ],
          [
            '17.90',
            '49.58',
            '0'
          ],
          [
            '59.62',
            '52.04',
            '65.80'
          ],
          [
            '62.20',
            '56.02',
            '68.82'
          ],
          [
            '35.37',
            '37.87',
            '36.52'
          ],
          [
            '27.33',
            '50.73',
            '31.85'
          ]
        ];