use strict; use warnings; use Data::Dumper; my %config = map { /^((?:inc|exc)_\w+)=(.*)$/ } ; print Dumper(\%config); __DATA__ inc_albums= a list of albums to include inc_genres= a list of genres to include inc_artists= a list of artists to include inc_songs= a list of songs to include inc_year= a list of years to include exc_albums= a list of albums to exclude exc_genres= a list of genres to exclude exc_artists= a list of artists to exclude exc_songs= a list of songs to exclude exc_year= a list of years to exclude