Thanks pvaldes and GrandFather, I have tried both of your methods. Both methods lead me to the same error:

syntax error at ./scriptfile line 55, near "if !~"
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I should also have mentioned that the $TestFile also contains other options used in the script, which is initially the reason for why i used a foreach loop. here is the code if it helps any:

foreach $Line (<TESTFILE>) {
        next if ($Line =~ m/^#/);

        if ($Line =~ m/option1\s*=\s*(.*)/) {
            $option1        = $1;
            print "option1 = <$option1>\n";
        }
        if ($Line =~ m/option2\s*=\s*(.*)/) {
            $option2        = $1;
            print "option2 = <$option2>\n";
        }
        if ($Line =~ m/option3\s*=\s*(.*)/) {
            $option3        = $1;
            print "option3 = <$option3>\n";
        }
        if ($Line =~ m/option4\s*=\s*(.*)/) {
            $option4        = $1;
            print "option4 = <$option4>\n";
        }
#        if ($Line =~ m/To\s*=\s*(.*)/) {
#            $To            = $1;
#            print "To = <$To>\n";
#        }
        if ($Line =~ m/option6\s*=\s*(.*)/) {
            $option6        = $1;
            print "option6 = <$option6>\n";
        }
        if ($Line =~ m/option7\s*=\s*(.*)/) {
            $option7        = $1;
            print "option7 = <$option7>\n";
        }
        if ($Line =~ m/option8\s*=\s*(.*)/) {
            $option8        = $1;
            print "option8 = <$option8>\n";
        }
    }
    close(TESTFILE);
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