#!/usr/bin/perl -w # CONVERT FROM ONE EXTERNAL STRUCTURE TO A # SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT INTERNAL STRUCTURE # # RETURNING NESTED LISTS AND THEN MUNGING THEM IS PAINFUL # SEE demo_restructure_easy.pl FOR A BETTER TECHNIQUE use strict; use Parse::RecDescent; use Data::Dumper; my $grammar = q( { sub consolidate { my $aref = shift; my @a = @{$aref}; my %new = (); foreach my $a (@a) { my %h = %{$a}; foreach my $k (keys %h) { if (ref($h{$k})) { foreach my $k2 (keys %{$h{$k}}) { $new{$k}->{$k2} = $h{$k}->{$k2}; } } else { $new{$k} = $h{$k}; } } } return \%new; } } file: section(s) { $return = consolidate($item[1]) } section: header '{' body '}' { $return = { $item[1] => $item[3] } } header: 'Domain=' /.+/ { $return = $item[2] } body: line(s) { $return = consolidate($item[1]) } line: lineA | lineB { $return = $item[1] } lineA: /[^\W_]+/ '=' /.+/ { $return = { $item[1] => $item[3] } } lineB: /[^\W_]+/ '_' /[^\W_]+/ '=' /.+/ { $return = { $item[1] => { $item[3] => $item[5] } } } ); my $parser = Parse::RecDescent->new($grammar); my $text; my @text = ; foreach (@text) { next if /^\#/; # Strip comments $text .= $_; } my $f = $parser->file($text); print Dumper ($f); __DATA__ # # Domain=domain1 { P1_Name=n1 P1_Address=host1:port1 P2_Name=n2 P2_Address=host2:port2 } Domain=domain2 { f1=v1 f2=v2a v2b #comment }