If you want to change from hash, a concated scalar string is probably your best bet, unless you need an array of lines.Here is how to do either way.

# make a global array for storage
my @array;

#or make a global scalar string 
my $storage_string;

.....
.....

    while(!$channel->eof())
    {
        my $buff;
        $channel->read($buff, 1024);
       
        # print $buff;
         push @array, $buf;   # pushes $buf into next array slot
       # or use a concated string
        $storage_string .= $buf;   # concantates $buf onto end of stri
+ng
    }
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When you want to read the array, you have a couple of options. Since your newlines may still be out of place, you may get staggered lines, but if you print the array it may reassemble itself properly

$/ = '';  # change output separator to nothing instead of newline
print   @array, "\n";
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but this just recreates a string with embedded newlines

If you go with the concated string route, you can easily split on newlines:

my @lines=split( /\n/, $storage_string);
print "@lines\n";

# or since $storage_string contains embedded newlines, just printing i
+t would work
print "$storage_string\n";
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Either way, an array joined with the output separator set to '', or a concated string split on newlines should give good results.