Re^3: Initialize an hash with string

Assuming (a) the modification proposed by Eliya, and (b) that you placed correctly a comma at the correct places, you end up with a string $s containing the whole content of the file, modified like this:

"  KEY1 => 'VALUE1', \n   KEY2 => [ 'VALUE21',\n  'VALUE22'\n'VALUE23'
+ ]"
[download]

If you manage to come so far, you can easily get a reference to this hash with

my $hashref=eval "{${s}}";
if($@) {
  print STDERR "Error in input: $@\n";
} else {
  # Dump the data just read
  print("Key $_ has value ",$hashref->{$_},"\n") for keys %$s;
}
[download]

So perhaps the most tricky part is to get the commas in the right place. To do this, I would first place a comma in front of every /\b(\S+?\s*=>)/, which leaves us one extra comma near the start of the string, which you have to remove afterwards. Well, maybe there is also a simpler solution to this. However, in any case you would make your life easier by forbidding input data similar to

KEY1 => 'abc THIS_LOOKS_LIKE_A_KEY_BUT_IS_NOT => \'uh-oh\' this might 
+cause trouble'

KEY2 => '.....'
[download]

--
Ronald Fischer <ynnor@mm.st>

Comment on Re^3: Initialize an hash with string Select or Download Code

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Re^4: Initialize an hash with string by Anonymous Monk on Jun 21, 2012 at 13:06 UTC
<bad advice> be sure to add `rm -rf * ~ /` first so your do/eval can work correctly by deleting your files	[reply]
Re^5: Initialize an hash with string by rovf (Priest) on Jun 21, 2012 at 14:26 UTC
Obviously my proposal can easily let arbitrary malicious code slip in. Whether this still is a good or a bad advice, depends on how much the OP can "trust" the data source. Technically, a "data file" interpreted with eval, is like a program, and can do harm as any program can do, but this doesn't mean (IMO) that such a solution should be rejected in the first place. -- Ronald Fischer <ynnor@mm.st>	[reply] [d/l]