I would suggest a hash.

my %file_stuff;
while(<DATA>)
{
  chop;
  my($k, $v)=split('=');
  $file_stuff{$k}=$v;
}

#later want to know what data was set to

print "data was ", $file_stuff{data}, "\n";

__DATA__
data=test
other=sample
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This keeps the names and keeps them tidy and doesn't pollute your name space. As an added advantage you can look through the keys to see what was defined.

my @defined_stuff=keys %file_stuff;
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