I played with the above so much i factored out the array of hashs to make the output file instead after putting it in, So the following is refactored again to construct the AoH, THEN make the output file from it. 

#!perl -w
use strict;
use Data::Dumper;

# all fo them 
my $aoh=[]; 

# used in getheaders to add tabs 
my $linejoin=' '; 

# This will collect all information for one entry:
my $infohash={type=>'top'};

# state machine data 
my $record_kind='none';
my $last_record_blank=1; 

my %next_record = (  # state table was => now 
    none        => 'page', 
    page        => 'topaddr', 
    topaddr     => 'rundate', 
    rundate     => 'title', 
    title       => 'getheaders', 
    getheaders  => 'getheaders',        # hold state till manual reset
+ 
    founddesc   => 'permitdate',
    permitdate  => 'address',
    address     => 'description',
    description => 'permitdate', 
);


while(<DATA>) {
    chomp; 
    s!\t! !g;  # can have tabs in fields, kill them  
    if ( m!^\s*$!) { # blanks dont matter 
        $last_record_blank=1; 
        next; 
    } 
    elsif ($last_record_blank) { #  new data so go to next state 
        $record_kind = $next_record{ $record_kind };
        if ($record_kind eq 'permitdate') { # move to permitdate means
+ dump full data 
            push @$aoh,$infohash; 
            $infohash={type=>'permit'};
        }
        $last_record_blank=0;
    } 
    if (defined($infohash->{ $record_kind })) { 
        $infohash->{ $record_kind } .= $linejoin . $_;
        }
    else {
        $infohash-> { $record_kind } = $_;
        }
    if ($record_kind eq  'getheaders') { 
         if ( m!^Description! ) { 
            $record_kind='founddesc';  # manual move to next state 
            $linejoin=' '; 
            } 
         else {$linejoin="\t"; } 
    } 
};
push @$aoh,$infohash; 

print Dumper($aoh); 

#########################################################
# make csv 
#########################################################

# delimiter style , pick one 
my $delim;

# this mode produces comma delimted files, special magic needs to be a
+dded to output 

$delim=','; 

# this produces tab delimted files, fields just cant contain a tab 
#  the output needs to have a .txt filetype and be opened with excel 
# or another filetype (say .tdf) if that filetype is assigned to be op
+ened by excel 
#  i like tdf better, but you said csv 

# $delim="\t"; 


for my $hash (@$aoh) { 
    infoprint ($hash->{type},$hash); 
    } 
infoprint ('bot',@{$aoh}[0]); 


sub delimfix{ 
# excel has problems with text files 
#  something excell may think as a date    but should be text 
#    2012-12-12
#    2/4
#  something excell may think is a number but is text 
#    1e123
#  leading zeros as text 
#    00001
#  leading equals as text 
#    =x
# (leading equals-dquote, training dquote)  fixes these problems (the 
+equals function) 
# There still exists a long string problem with ="..." 
#    |001-----0|010-----0|020-----0|030-----0|040-----0|050-----0|060-
+----0|070-----0|080-----0|090-----0|101-----0|110-----0|120-----0|130
+-----0|140-----0|150-----0|160-----0|170-----0|180-----0|190-----0|20
+1-----0|210-----0|220-----0|230-----0|240-----0|250-----0|260-----0|2
+70-----0|280-----0|290-----0

  my $field=shift; 
  if ($field=~m!"!) { 
      $field=~s!"!""!g; 
  }
  if ($delim eq ',' && $field=~m!,!) { 
#     csv also has problems with commas in string    
#      but if it has a comma it doesnt have the other problems 
      return '"'.$field.'"'; 
    
  }
  return '="'.$field.'"'; 
}; 

sub infoprint {
# Output a row of information
    my($title,$record) = @_;
#    print $title." data\n";  print Dumper $record;
  my @delimline; 
  if (lc($title) eq 'top') {
      print delimfix($record->{title})."\n"; 
      print "\n"; 
      for my $f (split("\t",$record->{getheaders})) { push @delimline,
+delimfix($f)} 
      } 
  elsif (lc($title) eq 'bot') {
      print "------\n"; 
      print delimfix($record->{page})."\n"; 
      print delimfix($record->{topaddr})."\n"; 
      print delimfix($record->{rundate})."\n"; 
  }
  else { 
      if ($record->{permitdate}=~m!^\d+/\d+/\d+!) {
          push @delimline,$record->{permitdate};
      } else {
          push @delimline,delimfix($record->{permitdate});
          } 
      push @delimline,delimfix($record->{address});
      push @delimline,delimfix($record->{description});
  }
  print join($delim,@delimline)."\n"; 
};


__DATA__
Page 1 of 3

100 Civic Center Way
Calabasas, California 91302

7/12/2012 9:21:02AM "hi"

MONTHLY EXTERNAL MODIFICATIONS PERMITS REPORT
Jun 2012

Permit Issued

Address

Description

06/01/2012

26166 ROYMOR
DR

Upgrade panel from 100 amp to 200 amp

06/04/2012

24956 NORMANS
WAY

(6) light fixtures @ patio; (3) branch circuits; (4) electric
heaters

06/05/2012

4273 VICASA
DR

Construct 339 SF Covered Loggia

[download]

In reply to Re^2: creating array of hashes from input file by huck
in thread creating array of hashes from input file by chimiXchanga

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