If this is a config file you control, I would change this to use real XML and parse it with XML::Parser or XML::Simple or something like that. Or, even something like Config::ApacheFormat (my personal favorite).

If you don't control it, I would change how you're doing it. 

use strict;

my $config = '/var/www/cgi-bin/prt.cfg';

open( FH, '<', $config )
    or die "Cannot open '$config': $!\n";

my @servers;
my ($in_server, @temp);
while ( <FH> ) {
    next if /^#|\s/;

    chomp;

    if (/<server.*?>/i) {
        die "Entering server when in server\n"
            if $in_server;
        $in_server = 1;
    }
    elsif (/<\/server.*?>/) {
        die "Entering server when in server\n"
            if !$in_server;
        $in_server = 0;

        push @servers, [ @temp ];
        @temp = ();
    }
    elsif ( $in_server ) {
        push @temp, $_;
    }
}

close FH;

use Data::Dumper;
print Dumper( \@servers );

[download]

This can be seen as a very simple state machine.

Being right, does not endow the right to be rude; politeness costs nothing.
Being unknowing, is not the same as being stupid.
Expressing a contrary opinion, whether to the individual or the group, is more often a sign of deeper thought than of cantankerous belligerence.
Do not mistake your goals as the only goals; your opinion as the only opinion; your confidence as correctness. Saying you know better is not the same as explaining you know better.

In reply to Re: Parsing a config file by dragonchild
in thread Parsing a config file by tcf03

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