#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

while (<DATA>)
{
   process_record() if /^\[/;  #start of record
}

sub process_record
{
   my %record;
   my $line;
   my $line_num=1;
   
   while (defined ($line = <DATA>) and $line !~ /\]/)
   {   
      print "line= ",$line_num++,"  ",$line;
      # do splits and fill in %record here
   }
   
   print "Record Complete!\n\n";
   # use %record here to populate other hashes
   # %record is thrown away when sub returns.
}

=prints
line= 1  ID:        123
line= 2  Start:     /tmp/file.1  /tmp/file.2  /tmp/file.3
line= 3  Done:      /complete/success.1 /complete/success.2
Record Complete!

line= 1  ID:        456
line= 2  Start:     /complete/success.1  /complete/success.2  /tmp/file.3
line= 3  Done:      /complete/success.3  /complete/success.4
Record Complete!
=cut

__DATA__
[  
ID:        123
Start:     /tmp/file.1  /tmp/file.2  /tmp/file.3
Done:      /complete/success.1 /complete/success.2
]

[  
ID:        456
Start:     /complete/success.1  /complete/success.2  /tmp/file.3
Done:      /complete/success.3  /complete/success.4
]