My solution is a bit more long winded: 

#!/usr/bin/perl -w 
use strict;
use Data::Dumper;
my $oldIFS=$/;
$/=undef;

my $stuff = <DATA>;
my ($j1,@sects)=split('-----',$stuff);

my $sections={};
foreach my $sect(@sects){
    my @parts=split(/[\n]+/,$sect);
    my $sect="";
    my $other_hash={};
    foreach my $part(@parts){
        next unless $part =~ m@=@;  # ignore trash lines
        my($key,$value)=split("=",$part);
        if ( $key eq 'SECTION' ) {
            $sect=$value;
        } else {
            $other_hash->{$key}=$value;
        }
    }
    $sections->{$sect}=$other_hash;
}


print Dumper($sections);


__END__
-----
SECTION=cr
NX_NTF_ID=400017
NX_NTF_PRODUCER_ID=cr
NX_NTF_PERSISTENT_ID=cr:400017
NX_NTF_NEW_DELAY_LOG=
-----
SECTION=cnt
NX_NTF_ID=F9F342055699954C93DE36923835A182 UUID String
NX_NTF_PRODUCER_ID=cnt
NX_NTF_PERSISTENT_ID=cnt:F9F342055699954C93DE36923835A182
NX_NTF_LAST_MOD_DT=02/04/2013 13:52:27

[download]
and produces: 
$ ./ftricks.pl 
$VAR1 = {
          'cr' => {
                    'NX_NTF_NEW_DELAY_LOG' => '',
                    'NX_NTF_PERSISTENT_ID' => 'cr:400017',
                    'NX_NTF_ID' => '400017',
                    'NX_NTF_PRODUCER_ID' => 'cr'
                  },
          'cnt' => {
                     'NX_NTF_PERSISTENT_ID' => 'cnt:F9F342055699954C93
+DE36923835A182',
                     'NX_NTF_ID' => 'F9F342055699954C93DE36923835A182 
+UUID String',
                     'NX_NTF_LAST_MOD_DT' => '02/04/2013 13:52:27',
                     'NX_NTF_PRODUCER_ID' => 'cnt'
                   }
        };

[download]

Peter L. Berghold -- Unix Professional
Peter -at- Berghold -dot- Net; AOL IM redcowdawg Yahoo IM: blue_cowdawg

In reply to Re: Reading and storing multiple lines from a file by blue_cowdawg
in thread Reading and storing multiple lines from a file by shewang

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