OK, here is a part of my ugly code (the better looking parts are borrowed from other proper codes). I use a pointer that travels along each line one word at a time and populates the hash. Hope someone shows me the right way to do it.

     my @matches = split / /,$entry;
     my $position = 3;
     
     if ($matches[$position] eq "permit")
     {
        $hash{func} = $matches[$position];
        $position++;
     }
     elsif ($matches[$position] eq "deny")
     {
        $hash{func} = $matches[$position];
        $position++;
     }
    #completed action
     if ($matches[$position] eq "object-group")
     {
        $position++;
        my $protocol = get_obj_grp ($matches[$position]); #get_obj_grp
+ is a separate function read from a hash table
        $hash{protocol} = join('<br>',@{$protocol->{entries}});
        $position++;
     }
     elsif($matches[$position] =~ /ip|tcp|udp|icmp/)
     {
        $hash{protocol} = $matches[$position];
        $position++;        
     }
     else
     {
        $position++; #shouldn't reach here
     }# completed protocol
      
     if ($matches[$position] eq "object-group")
     {
        $position++;
        my $source = get_obj_grp ($matches[$position]);
        $hash{source_net} = join('<br>',@{$source->{entries}});
        $position++;
     }

     elsif ($matches[$position] eq "any")
     {
        $hash{source_net} = "any";
        $position++;
     }     
     
     elsif ($matches[$position] eq "host")
     {
        $position++;
        if ($matches[$position] =~ m/^\d+\.\d+\.\d+\.\d+$/) {
            $hash{source_net} = "host $matches[$position]";
        }
        else{
            $hash{source_net} = "host " . find_name($matches[$position
+]);
        }
        $position++;
     }

     elsif($matches[$position] =~ m/^\d+\.\d+\.\d+\.\d+$/)
     {
        $hash{source_net} = $matches[$position]." ".$matches[$position
++1];
        $position++;
        $position++;
      }
     elsif($matches[$position+1] =~ m/^\d+\.\d+\.\d+\.\d+$/)
     {
        $hash{source_net} = find_name($matches[$position])." ".$matche
+s[$position+1];
        $position++;
        $position++;
      }
    #completed source
     
     if ($matches[$position] eq "object-group")
     {
        $position++;
        my $source = get_obj_grp ($matches[$position]);
        $hash{dest_net} = join('<br>',@{$source->{entries}});
        $position++;
     }

     elsif ($matches[$position] eq "any")
     {
        $hash{dest_net} = "any";
        $position++;
     }     
     
     
     elsif ($matches[$position] eq "host")
     {
        $position++;
        if ($matches[$position] =~ m/^\d+\.\d+\.\d+\.\d+$/) {
            $hash{dest_net} = "host $matches[$position]";
        }
        else{
            $hash{dest_net} = "host " . find_name($matches[$position])
+;
        }
        $position++;
     }

     elsif($matches[$position] =~ m/^\d+\.\d+\.\d+\.\d+$/)
     {
        $hash{dest_net} = $matches[$position]." ".$matches[$position+1
+];
        $position++;
        $position++;
      }
     elsif($matches[$position+1] =~ m/^\d+\.\d+\.\d+\.\d+$/)
     {
        $hash{dest_net} = find_name($matches[$position])." ".$matches[
+$position+1];
        $position++;
        $position++;
      }
     #completed destination     
     
     if ($matches[$position] eq "object-group")
     {
        $position++;
        my $protocol = get_obj_grp ($matches[$position]);
        $hash{dest_port} = join('<br>',@{$protocol->{entries}});
        $position++;
     }
     elsif($matches[$position] eq "eq")
     {
        $position++;
        $hash{dest_port} = $matches[$position];            
     }
     elsif($matches[$position] eq "range")
     {
        $position++;
        $hash{dest_port} = $matches[$position]." to ".$matches[$positi
+on+1];    
        $position++;
        $position++;
     }     
     else
     {
        $position++
     }# completed port
        
          $entry = \%hash;         
     }
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