here's a (untested) solution using Text::CSV .. what modules did you try? if you show your attempts w/specific modules (maybe as separate posts), we can probably help with them..

my $data = {};
use Text::CSV;
my $csv = Text::CSV->new();
open FILE, "foo.txt";                      # open a file
my $line = <FILE>;                         # get the header line
$line =~ s/^#//;                           # strip off leading #
$csv->parse($line);                        # parse line ...
my @cols = $csv->fields();                 #   ... storing column name
+s
while(my $line = <FILE>){                  # loop through rest of file
  $csv->parse($line);                      # parse line ...
  my @vals = $csv->fields();               #   ... getting the values
#  my %row = map { $cols[$_] => $vals[$_] } 0 .. $#cols;   # and hashi
+ng up based on col names
#  $data->{ $row{ $cols[0] } } = \%row;     # stick this hash into big
+ data structure.
                                           # NOTE:  it's hashing on th
+e first column..
                                           #  might want to change if 
+necessary
# UPDATE: just use a hash slice:
  @{ $data->{ $row{ $cols[0] } } }{ @cols } = @vals;

}
close FILE;                                # close file -- all done!
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