If the number of entries (for whatever definition of entry) is modest then using Data::Dump::Streamer is likely to be as good as anything. If you anticipate a large number of entries then it's probably worth finding out about DBI and the various DBD drivers that allow you to use a "real" data base.

However, for the simple case consider:

use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dump::Streamer;


my %services = (
    1 => {
        name => "service1",
        host => { host1 => 1 },
    },

    2 => {
        name => "service2",
        host => { host0 => 2, host5 => 2 },
    },
);

Dump (\%services);

open TEMP, '>', 'temp.txt';
print TEMP Dump (\%services)->Out ();
close TEMP;

my $newServices = do 'temp.txt';

Dump ($newServices);

[download]

Prints:

$HASH1 = {
           1 => {
                  host => { host1 => 1 },
                  name => 'service1'
                },
           2 => {
                  host => {
                            host0 => 2,
                            host5 => 2
                          },
                  name => 'service2'
                }
         };
$HASH1 = {
           1 => {
                  host => { host1 => 1 },
                  name => 'service1'
                },
           2 => {
                  host => {
                            host0 => 2,
                            host5 => 2
                          },
                  name => 'service2'
                }
         };

[download]
DWIM is Perl's answer to Gödel

In reply to Re^3: Reading from a flat text file database and storing contents in a hash by GrandFather
in thread Reading from a flat text file database and storing contents in a hash by wishartz

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.