Of course there is!

This is Perl.

However, to learn how to do so (we are here, after all, to help you learn, not to do it for you), I would suggest push. Using the example there, you could create an array with elements 0, 2, 4 ... containing the "@char\d" and the odd-numbered elements with the data. Alternately (and perhaps better), see the Tutorials on hashes, here in the Monastery
    ...just for starters, that is.