you can take this two steps further by getting rid of $key and using a map: 
%prod=map{chomp;@a=split/\|/;shift@a,[@a]}<SRC>;

[download]
or, expanded, 
%prod = map {
  chomp;
  @a = split /\|/;
  shift(@a) => [@a]
} <SRC>

[download]
You have to do [@a] instead of \@a if you do not localize the array with "my".

In reply to Re^2: Optimal way to read in pipe delimited files by bageler
in thread Optimal way to read in pipe delimited files by narashima

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