Here's using the until-eof-FILEHANDLE technique:
my @foo;

my $next_a = <DATA>;
scalar(<DATA>);

until (eof(DATA))
{
    my $a = $next_a;

    my @b;
    while (my $line = <DATA>)
    {
        last if $line =~ /^[*]{16}$/;
        push @b, $line;
    }

    my $found_next;
    my @c;
    while (my $line = <DATA>)
    {
        last if $found_next = ($line =~ /^-{16}$/);
        push @c, $line;
    }
    $next_a = pop(@c) if $found_next;

    push @foo, {
        a => $a,
        b => join("" => @b),
        c => join("" => @c),
    };
}

use Data::Dumper;
print Dumper \@foo;

__END__
title 1
----------------

a few random lines
of more random text

****************
some more
random text

title 2
----------------

cow jumped

over the moon
****************
corn on the cob

lobster
thermidor

[download]

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

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