my $LINE_PATTERN = qr{ ([^:]+) # capture everything before ... :\s* # the colon and any newline or other whitespace, ([^\n]+) # then capture everything before \n # the next newline }msx; my $app_text = "one:partridge\ntwo:\nturtle doves\nthree:french hens\n"; while ($app_text =~ /$LINE_PATTERN/g) { print "$1: $2\n"; } #### my %value_of = $app_text =~ /$LINE_PATTERN/g; while (my ($field, $value) = each %value_of) { print "$field: $value\n"; }