lame but fun; don't follow this idiom|t.

use Data::Dumper;
my $stuff = 'ASDFZXCV S;JL KJQWER QWER ZXCVO ;QLKWERQ JKL;JAPS';
my %hash;
my @keys = qw( asdf qwer jkl; );

@hash{@keys} = $stuff =~ / (asdf) .*? (qwer) .*? (jkl;) /gix;

print Dumper \%hash;
[download]

I'm with you there! Just because you can does not mean you should.

cheers

tachyon