my $root = {};
my $node = $root;
my @stack;
while (<DATA>) {
  chomp;
  if (/^\s*BEGIN\s+(.*)/) {
    my $child = {};
    $child->{_type} = $1;
    push(@{$node->{_children}}, $child);
    push(@stack, $node);
    $node = $child;
  } elsif (/^\s*END\s+(.*)/) {
    # check: $node->{_type} eq $1
    $node = pop(@stack);
  } elsif (/^\s*(\S+)\s+(.*)/) {
    # remove quotes from $2 here?
    $node->{$1} = $2;
  } else {
    die "unexpected input: $_"
  }
}

use Data::Dumper;
print Dumper($root);

##</code><code>##

$VAR1 = {
          '_children' => [
                           {
                             'NLSLocale' => '",,,,"',
                             'JobVersion' => '"50.0.0"',
                             'MetaBag' => '"CMetaProperty"',
                             'OLEType' => '"CJobDefn"',
                             'Container' => '"V0"',
                             'NULLIndicatorPosition' => '"0"',
                             '_type' => 'DSRECORD',
                             '_children' => [
                                              {
                                                'Prompt' => '"/home/migration/Dev root "',
                                                'Default' => '"/home/migration/Dev"',
                                                'ParamScale' => '"0"',
                                                'ParamLength' => '"0"',
                                                '_type' => 'DSSUBRECORD',
                                                'ParamType' => '"0"',
                                                'Name' => '"ROOT"'
                                              },
                                              {
                                                'Prompt' => '"Business Unit, ie WHUB"',
                                                'Default' => '"CDBS"',
                                                'ParamScale' => '"0"',
                                                'ParamLength' => '"0"',
                                                '_type' => 'DSSUBRECORD',
                                                'ParamType' => '"0"',
                                                'Name' => '"SITE"'
                                              },
                                              {
                                                'Prompt' => '"Area of Work ie AP"',
                                                'Default' => '"AP"',
                                                'ParamScale' => '"0"',
                                                'ParamLength' => '"0"',
                                                '_type' => 'DSSUBRECORD',
                                                'ParamType' => '"0"',
                                                'Name' => '"AOW"'
                                              },
                                              {
                                                'Prompt' => '"DMR/Spec ie Vendors"',
                                                'Default' => '"Vendors"',
                                                'ParamScale' => '"0"',
                                                'ParamLength' => '"0"',
                                                '_type' => 'DSSUBRECORD',
                                                'ParamType' => '"0"',
                                                'Name' => '"DMR"'
                                              },
                                              {
                                                'Owner' => '"APT"',
                                                'Value' => '"#DSProjectARTOptions#"',
                                                '_type' => 'DSSUBRECORD',
                                                'Name' => '"AdvancedRuntimeOptions"'
                                              }
                                            ],
                             'Readonly' => '"0"',
                             'NextID' => '"194"',
                             'ControlAfterSubr' => '"0"',
                             'TimeModified' => '"00.00.01"',
                             'CenturyBreakYear' => '"30"',
                             'Parameters' => '"CParameters"',
                             'JobType' => '"0"',
                             'DateModified' => '"1899-12-30"',
                             'Identifier' => '"ROOT"',
                             'FullDescription' => '"The first part of the routine gathers data from the ABAP which extracts the necessary data from the SAP tables KNA1 and KNB1 (NB the keys of the link between KNA1 and KNB1 will form the basis of all the ABAP queries)."',
                             'Description' => '"Collates all of the data for the customer master migration."',
                             'Name' => '"AP_CDBS_Vendor_Summary"',
                             'Category' => '"1.FSS\\\\2.AP\\\\6.CDBS\\\\1.Vendors\\\\3.Reports"',
                             'IsTemplate' => '"0"'
                           }
                         ]
        };