use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper;

my %hash = map {chomp; split /: */} <DATA>;
print Dumper \%hash;

__DATA__
natural number: a non-negative integer
counting number: a positive integer
rational number: a real that can be expressed as a fraction

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UPDATE: included chomp

In reply to Re: Loading a textfile into a hash by kabel
in thread Loading a textfile into a hash by Anonymous Monk

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