my %hash = map {
        my( $a, @b ) = split /\|/;
        defined $a ? ( $a => { @b } ) : ()
    } split /\n+/, $content;

##</code><code>##

    my @subhash_keys = qw( something another );
    my %hash = map {
        my( $a, @b ) = split /\|/;
        my %b;
        @b{ @subhash_keys } = @b;
        defined $a ? ( $a => \%b ) : ()
    } split /\n+/, $content;