Either I'm missing something in your code or your code is missing a step. Conceptually, here's how I'd approach the task.

1. Process file by line.
2. For each line, parse the line to get the key/value pairs.
3. For each key/value pair, parse to separate the key and the value.
4. Add the key and value pair to the hash.

I think that I see steps 1, 3, and 4 in your code, but I don't see step 2. That might not be the source of your issue, but it might help.