Whats the "accepted practice" when reading in config files?

Is it best to read them into a structure?
Then refer to struct->field1 etc.

My config file is a simple hash database similar to:

Name    Bruce
Age    25
Department    Marketing
Phone    01122 34566

That's not a configuration file, it's a data file.  Depending on
its size, you might want to use a number of data structures.  Can
you give us more details?
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