One of the many answers to #1 would be to:

read a line - store it
read the next line - compare it, if it matches your ----- or ****, then save the first line as your key.
Read the two lines.
If either of them are your ----- or ****, then save the previous one as the next key, and the ones before it as the previous hash's values.

Another possible solution:
Start by reading the whole file into an array, one line per entry. Find the ----- lines, and split at one position before it, and use that section to create your hash.

It might not be the best way, but its the first couple that come to mind.

In reply to Re: breaking a text file into a data structure -- best way? by sierpinski
in thread breaking a text file into a data structure -- best way? by punkish

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.