I am trying to move data from a large number of text files into a database. Each text file has the same format, with fieldnames and values, 21 lines long, where each line is unique (no nice columns or anything like that), for a total of about 80 pieces of data that I have to sift out and write to the db.

So here is the question...Is there some kind of function like the opposite of format that could just slurp up the file and assign all of the values to the appropriate variables? Or should I use a bunch of unpacks and just undef the data that I don't need (the fieldnames)?
Am I totally in the weeds here?

I'm pretty new to Perl (and programming), and don't want to accidentially write hundreds of lines of code to do something that could be done in much less time.

Feeling like I may have bit off more than I can chew,
xChauncey

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