Personally, I think that XML::Config is pretty neat. Or use one of the other modules listed above.

However, If you have some adverseness towards using the CPAN, there is this:

## test.pl
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use Data::Dumper;
use Stuff::Config ();

my $c = &Stuff::Config::config("some_file.cfg");

print Dumper($c);

__END__


## Stuff/Config.pm
package Stuff::Config;
use strict;

sub config {
  my ($setup_file) = @_;
  my %c;
## do something with the setup file?
  %c = (
    some  => "config",
    stuff => "in here",
    var1  => "x",
    var2  => "y",
  ); 
  return \%c;
}

"not a 1";
[download]

But then you are one step nearer to writing your own config module, so why not use one of the many already available?

-xtype