Check this out:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
###############################################################
use strict;
use CGI;
use Data::Dumper;

my $cgi=new CGI;

my $v={};
map { my($k,$vl) = ($_,$cgi->param($_));
     $v->{$k}=$vl;
    } $cgi->param();

print Dumper($v);
[download]

Running this a couple of different ways you get:

[pberghol@webdev0]:[~]
-$  echo "
> a=foo
> b=junk
> c=rats
> d=golf
> " | perl doParse.pl
(offline mode: enter name=value pairs on standard input)
$VAR1 = {
          'a' => 'foo',
          'b' => 'junk',
          'c' => 'rats',
          'd' => 'golf'
        };


[pberghol@webdev0]:[~]
[download]

and

[pberghol@webdev0]:[~]
-$  perl doParse.pl first=peter last=berghold hobby=cooking
$VAR1 = {
          'first' => 'peter',
          'hobby' => 'cooking',
          'last' => 'berghold'
        };


[pberghol@webdev0]:[~]
-$
[download]

Is this what you were after? HTH

---

Peter L. Berghold	Schooner Technology Consulting, Inc.
Peter@Berghold.Net	www.berghold.net