#!/usr/bin/perl 
use warnings; 
use strict; 
 
#the text could be from a file, etc. but: 
my $text; 
undef $/; 
$text = <DATA>; 
 
#The keys would be known, e.g. 
my @keys = ( 
            'A key could be:', 
            'A value could be:', 
            'The order is:', 
            'The keys are:', 
            ); 
 
#What I'd like to end up with is something like: 
my %result = ( 
'A key could be:'   => 'Anything\n\n', 
'A value could be:' => 'Any text.\n\nEven multiple lines.\n\nMight include a : or whatever\n\n', 
'The order is:'     => '\nunpredictable\n\n', 
'The keys are:'     => 'optional\n', 
); 
 
#the code below works but seems inefficient: 
my %mess; 
 
foreach my $key(@keys) { 
    if ($text =~ /$key/) { 
        $mess{$key} = {'remainder' => $', 'length' => length $'}; 
    } 
} 
 
while (my ($mess_key, $mess_val_ref) = each %mess) { 
    foreach my $key(@keys) { 
        if ($mess_val_ref->{'remainder'} =~ /$key/) { 
            my $length = length $`; 
            if ($length < $mess{$mess_key}{'length'}) { 
                $mess{$mess_key}{'length'} = $length; 
                $mess{$mess_key}{'value'} = $`; 
            } 
        } 
        else { 
            $mess{$mess_key}{'value'} = $mess_val_ref->{'remainder'}; 
        } 
    } 
} 
 
while( my($key, $val) = each %mess ) { 
  print $key, $val->{'value'}; 
} 
 
#other ideas? 
 
__DATA__ 
A key could be: Anything 
 
A value could be: Any text. 
 
Even multiple lines. 
 
Might include a : or whatever 
 
The order is: 
unpredictable 
 
The keys are: optional