[section_name]
var=value
var=value
...

[section_name]
var=val
var=val
...

##</code><code>##

sub UpdateConfigHash {

    $config_file = $ENV{'CONFPATH'};

    open( CONFFILE, $config_file ) || die "$!\n";
    my @config_file_contents = <CFILE>;
    my $abs_path_section_flag = 0;
    my $section_flag = 0;
    my $section_name = "";
    my $config_files_line = "";
    my $config_files_line_ind = 0;

	while ( defined( $config_file_contents[$config_files_line_ind] ) ) {
	    $config_files_line = $config_file_contents[$config_files_line_ind];
	    trim_clean( $config_files_line );

	    if ( $config_files_line =~ /^(\s*)#/ ) {
        	$config_files_line_ind++;
	        next;
	    }
	    if ( $config_files_line =~ /^(\s*)$/ ) {
        	$config_files_line_ind++;
	        next;
	    }
	    if ( $config_files_line =~ /^(\d+)$/ ){
	        $global_settings{"comm_port"} = $&;
            $config_files_line_ind++;
	        next;
	    }
	    if ( $config_files_line =~ /^\[abs_paths\]/ ) {
	        $abs_path_section_flag = 1;
	        $section_flag = 0;
            $config_files_line_ind++;
	        next;
	    }
	    if ( $config_files_line =~ /^\[(\w+)\]/  ) {
	        $section_name = $1;
	        $abs_path_section_flag = 0;
	        $section_flag = 1;
	        $section_index = 0;
            $config_files_line_ind++;
	        next;
	    }
	    if ( $abs_path_section_flag == 1 &&  $section_flag == 0 ) {
	        # indicates abs_paths is on
	        my @temp = split( /=/, $config_files_line );
	        trim_clean (\$temp[0]);
	        trim_clean (\$temp[1]);
	        $global_settings{ $temp[0] } = $temp[1];
            $config_files_line_ind++;
	        next;
	    }
	    if ( $abs_path_section_flag == 0 &&  $section_flag == 1 ) {
	        # indicates a section ( not abs_paths )
	        my @temp = split( /=/, $config_files_line );
	        trim_clean (\$temp[0]);
	        trim_clean (\$temp[1]);
	        $global_settings{ $section_name . "_" . $section_index } = $temp[1];
	        $section_index++;
            $config_files_line_ind++;
	        next;
	    }
	}
}