use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper;

my $string = q({file => 'file1', desc  => 'test'}, {file => 'file12', 
+desc => 'test2'});
my @array_of_hashes;

my @hashes = $string =~ /(\{.*?\})/g;

for my $hashstr (@hashes) {
    my @keys = $hashstr =~ /(\w+)\s*=>/g;
    my @values = $hashstr =~ /=>\s*\'(\w+)\'/g;
    
    my %hash;
    @hash{@keys} = @values;
    push @array_of_hashes, \%hash;
}

print Dumper(\@array_of_hashes);
[download]

$VAR1 = [
          {
            'desc' => 'test',
            'file' => 'file1'
          },
          {
            'desc' => 'test2',
            'file' => 'file12'
          }
        ];
[download]

You can also build a parser with TheDamian's Regexp::Grammars. Here is a proof of concept, which you can improve.

use Regexp::Grammars;

my $parser =
  qr{
    (?:
      <[Hash]> ** ( , )
    )
    <token: Hash>
    \{
      <[KV]> ** ( , )
    \}
    <token: KV>
      (?:
        \s*
        <[Key]>
        \s*
        =>
        \s*
        <[Value]>
        \s*
      )
    <token: Key>
    \w*
    <token: Value>
    ' 
      \w*
    '
}x;

use Data::Dumper;
# Match the grammar against some text...
if ("{ foo => 'bar', baz => 'bof' }, {bing => 'go'}" =~ $parser) {
     # If successful, the hash %/ will have the hierarchy of results..
+.
     print Dumper(\%/ );
}

__END__
$VAR1 = {
          '' => '{ foo => \'bar\', baz => \'bof\' }, {bing => \'go\'}'
+,
          'Hash' => [
                      {
                        '' => '{ foo => \'bar\', baz => \'bof\' }',
                        'KV' => [
                                  {
                                    '' => ' foo => \'bar\'',
                                    'Value' => [
                                                 '\'bar\''
                                               ],
                                    'Key' => [
                                               'foo'
                                             ]
                                  },
                                  {
                                    '' => 'baz => \'bof\' ',
                                    'Value' => [
                                                 '\'bof\''
                                               ],
                                    'Key' => [
                                               'baz'
                                             ]
                                  }
                                ]
                      },
                      {
                        '' => '{bing => \'go\'}',
                        'KV' => [
                                  {
                                    '' => 'bing => \'go\'',
                                    'Value' => [
                                                 '\'go\''
                                               ],
                                    'Key' => [
                                               'bing'
                                             ]
                                  }
                                ]
                      }
                    ]
        };
[download]

---

print+qq(\L@{[ref\&@]}@{['@'x7^'!#2/"!4']});

thanks you Cdarke your code works .
but i acctually i try to pass a variable to it. how should i correct it?

many thanks



use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper;
my $str = "{file => 'file1', desc  => 'test'}, {file => 'file12', desc
+ => 'test2'}"
my $string = $str;
my @array_of_hashes;
my @array_of_hashes;

my @hashes = $string =~ /(\{.*?\})/g;

for my $hashstr (@hashes) {
    my @keys = $hashstr =~ /(\w+)\s*=>/g;
    my @values = $hashstr =~ /=>\s*\'(\w+)\'/g;
    
    my %hash;
    @hash{@keys} = @values;
    push @array_of_hashes, \%hash;
}

print "Pragma: no-cache\n";
print "Content-type:text/html\n\n";
print Dumper(\@array_of_hashes);
[download]

Dear cdarke

your code is indeed work . thank you very much .

how ever i found when the value contain space or be empty
value or even Japanese or Chinese fout. it will produce undef and
eventually lead to mis match of key and value?



for example: below case are non work



desc => 'test no work'
desc => ''
desc => 'japanese_fond_here_non_work'


Could you help me a a bit more this time?