I threw it away; but here's a rough recreation:

#! perl -slw
use strict;
use Data::Dump qw[ pp ];

our $i //= 'tutorial-data.txt';
our $debug //= 0;

open my $in, '<', $i or die "failed to open '$i':$!";

my %users;
my $userid;
while( <$in> ) {
    chomp;
    warn "DEBUG: $_\n" if $debug;
    s[#.*$][] if /#/;
    next unless /\S/;
    my( $lead, $key, $val ) = m[^(\s+)?(\S+)\s*:\s*(.+?)\s*$] or die "
+Invalid line format at line $.";
    $key = lc $key;
    if( defined $lead and length $lead ) {
        die "Missing userid at $." unless $userid;
        $val = [ split '\s*,\s*', $val ] if $key eq 'hobbies'; ## modi
+fied to trim
        $users{ $userid }{ $key } = $val;
    }
    else {
        die "Missing userid at line $." unless $val;
        die "Userid '$val' not a positive integer at line $." unless $
+val =~ /^\d+$/;
        die "Userid '$val' not unique at line $." if exists $users{ $v
+al };
        $userid = $val;
    }
}

warn "DEBUG: Dumping user hash\n" and pp \%users if $debug;
[download]

And a debug run:

C:\test>p56tut -debug -i=tutorial-data.txt
DEBUG: # file: tutorial-data.txt
DEBUG: # a data file of users and their attributes
DEBUG: # note all valid lines are in format "key: value..."
DEBUG: user: 1234 # unique ID (an integer > zero)
DEBUG:   last: Brown
DEBUG:   first: Sam
DEBUG:   job: gunsmith
DEBUG:   # hobbies may be a comma-separated list
DEBUG:   hobbies: hunting, Perl Monging
DEBUG: user: 2316
DEBUG:   last: Doe
DEBUG:   first: Jane
DEBUG:   job: financial analyst
DEBUG:   hobbies: Python open source, bowling
DEBUG: Dumping user hash
{
  1234 => {
            first   => "Sam",
            hobbies => ["hunting", "Perl Monging"],
            job     => "gunsmith",
            "last"  => "Brown",
          },
  2316 => {
            first   => "Jane",
            hobbies => ["Python open source", "bowling"],
            job     => "financial analyst",
            "last"  => "Doe",
          },
}
[download]

Better yet ... just use YAML.

use YAML;
use Data::Dumper;

print Dumper Load( do{ local $/; <DATA> } );

__DATA__
---
1234:
  first: Sam
  hobbies:
    - hunting
    - Perl Munging
  job: gunsmith
  last: Brown
2316:
  first: Jane
  hobbies:
    - Python open source
    - bowling
  job: financial analyst
  last: Doe
[download]

jeffa

L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)

Better yet ... just use YAML.

Agreed.

---

With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday'

Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.

"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority". I knew I was on the right track :)

In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.

I'm with torvalds on this Agile (and TDD) debunked I told'em LLVM was the way to go. But did they listen!

Good idea. My example program is a form I've used for years and it predates YAML, so I haven't really thought of using it until recently. I also didn't know at the time if Perl 6 had the module available yet, but it does.