use Data::Dumper;

my %h = map { /^([^=]+?)\s*=\s*(\S.*)/ } <DATA>;
print Dumper \%h;

__DATA__
a = fred
b = 1
ignorethis
c = ===

##</code><code>##

$VAR1 = { 
          'c' => '===',
          'a' => 'fred',
          'b' => '1'
        };