in reply to
Removing Duplicates from a multiline entry
I would suggest to set the input separator ($/) to paragraph mode (empty string) and get the product id from the beginning of every paragraph.
See the code below:
use strict;
use warnings;
local $/ = "";
my %product;
while (<DATA>) {
if (/^Product\h+(\d)/) {
my $id = $1;
my ($address) = /^fullStreet\h*=\h*(.+)/m;
if (exists $product{$id}) {
print "ID <$id> already exists. Address is <$product{$id}{
+address}>.\n";
# do some other stuff
}
else {
print;
}
$product{$id} = {address => $address};
}
else {
warn "Invalid paragraph: <$_>\n";
}
}
__END__
Product 1
------------------------------------------------------------------
storeId = 1001
phoneNumber = (111) 111-1111
availbilityCode = 1
stockStatus = Limited stock
distance = 9.12
city = some city
fullStreet = some address
Product 2
------------------------------------------------------------------
storeId = 2117
phoneNumber = (111) 111-1111
availbilityCode = 2
stockStatus = In stock
distance = 7.49
city = some city
fullStreet = some address
Product 3
------------------------------------------------------------------
storeId = 2123
phoneNumber = (111) 111-1111
availbilityCode = 1
stockStatus = Limited stock
distance = 8.83
city = some city
fullStreet = some address
Product 1
------------------------------------------------------------------
storeId = 1001
phoneNumber = (111) 111-1111
availbilityCode = 1
stockStatus = Limited stock
distance = 8.56
city = some city
fullStreet = some address
