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

my $del = '~';
my $file="file.txt";
my %hash;
open(DB,"$file") || die "$!";

while(<DB>){
	
	my ($nick,$phone,$name,$cell) = split/$del/; #split on $del.
	%_ = (nick=>"$nick",phone=>"$phone",name=>"$name",cell=>"$cell");
	$hash{$nick}={%_};
}            


print Data::Dumper->new([\%hash],[qw(hash)])->Indent(2)->Quotekeys(0)->Dump;
# the above is from the Data::Dumper tutorial on this site.