hostname:host1
ip:192.168.1.1
cpu:PIII
other info:fjfjfjfjfjjf
:::
hostname:host2
ip:192.168.1.2
cpu:PIII
other info:fjfjfjfjfjjf
:::
hostname:host2
ip:192.168.1.2
cpu:PIII
other info:fjfjfjfjfjjf
:::

##</code><code>##


#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use diagnostics;

$/ = ":::\n"; # define ::: as paragraph delimiter
#figure out how many paragraphs are there ?
open(HOSTDB,"hostdb") or die "cannot open hostdb";
$record = 0;
while(<HOSTDB>){
 $record++;
}
print "number of records - $record\n";

close(HOSTDB);
open(HOSTDB,"hostdb") or die "cannot open hostdb";
    $host1 = <HOSTDB>;
    $host2 = <HOSTDB> ;
    $host3 = <HOSTDB>;
close(HOSTDB);
chomp($host1);
chomp($host2);
chomp($host3);

#this is just for me to see what's been proccessed ...
#print "paragraph1 = $host1";
#print "--------------------------\n";
#print "paragraph2 = $host1 ";
#print "--------------------------\n";
#print "paragraph3 = $host1 ";
#print "--------------------------\n";
foreach( $host_record = 1 ; $host_record <= $record ; $host_record++ ){
print "------host.$host_record--------\n";
$field = 0;
for $field (split /\n/, ${"host".$host_record}) {
    print "Field contains: `$field'\n";
 }
}