my @F = split /\s*=\s*/; push @rows, [map { my %x = (field => $F[$_ - 1], value => $F[$_]); $x{field} =~ s/.*\s+(\S+)$/$1/ unless $_ == 1; $x{value} =~ s/\s*\S+$// unless $_ == $#F; \%x; } 1 .. $#F]; #### my ($toss, @list) = split /\s*([A-Za-z]+)\s*\=\s*/; my @row; while (@list) { push @row, { field => shift @list, value => shift @list }; } push @rows, \@row;