read/write associative array from/to file

[Thomas Gstädtner <thomas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi list,

I want to read and write an associative array from/to a file, i.e. a
very simple key-value database. Is this possible; if so, how?
If not, what would be the most practical solution to work with a file
like this?
---
key1 value1
key2 value2
key3 value3
...
---

Thanks in advance,
thomasg