$hash{ $1 } = $2 while $data =~ m[(...): (...)]g #### m[ # First we want the key, the text preceding the : (?: \A | \n ) ## from the start the string or a newline ( [^:]+? ) ## capture everyline upto the : into $1 \s* ## but throw away any trailing spaces : ## preceding the : # Now grab everything (including newlines) into $2 (.*?) # but stop if we find a newline followed # by a non-space preceding a : # or the end of string for the last record. (?= # lookahead (?: # non-capture group containing \n # a newline \S # follow by a non-space [^:]* # and anything except a : : # and a : ) | # OR \Z # the EOS ) ]gxs; #### #! perl -slw use strict; use Data::Dumper; my $m = <<'EOM'; Dig No : A081 Prior: 2 Digstrt: 03/30/04 Time: 10:45 Address: 26800 BRADLEY RD Subdivsn: Remarks: DIRECTIONAL BORING=NO. DEPTH EXCEEDS 7 FEET=NO. : TICKET EXPIRES AFTER 04/22/04 Members: ABTL0A AMTCHA CECO5A COMC4A ITHA0A LKFO0A NSGC0A EOM my %parts; while( $m =~ m[ (?: \A | \n ) ( [^:]+? ) \s* : (.*?) (?= (?: \n \b ) | \Z ) ]gxs ) { my( $key, $value ) = ( $1, $2 ); $value =~ s[\n\s+:][]g; $parts{ $key } = $value; } print Dumper \%parts; __END__ P:\test>360501 $VAR1 = { 'Address' => ' 26800 BRADLEY RD Subdivsn:', 'Members' => ' ABTL0A AMTCHA CECO5A COMC4A ITHA0A LKFO0A NSGC0A', 'Remarks' => ' DIRECTIONAL BORING=NO. DEPTH EXCEEDS 7 FEET=NO. TICKET EXPIRES AFTER 04/22/04', 'Dig No ' => ' A081 Prior: 2 Digstrt: 03/30/04 Time: 10:45' };