Or using named captures: 
use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper;

my @users;
while (<DATA>) {
    m#^\s*(?<login>[\w-]+)
      :x
      :(?<uid>\d+)
      :(?<gid>\d+)
      :(?<name>[\w\s(),-]*)
      :(?<home>[\w/]+)
      :(?<shell>[\w/]*)$#x
        or die "Malformed input [$_]";
    push @users, { %+ };
}

print Dumper \@users;
__DATA__
root:x:0:0::/:/usr/bin/ksh
paul:x:201:1::/home/paul:/usr/bin/ksh
jdoe:x:202:1:John Doe:/home/jdoe:/usr/bin/ksh

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In reply to Re^2: Getting rid of a temporary variable in AoH by Arunbear
in thread Getting rid of a temporary variable in AoH by reisinge

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