diff -burN AppConfig-1.56.orig/lib/AppConfig/File.pm AppConfig-1.56/lib/AppConfig/File.pm
--- AppConfig-1.56.orig/lib/AppConfig/File.pm	2004-02-04 02:28:28.000000000 -0800
+++ AppConfig-1.56/lib/AppConfig/File.pm	2004-05-28 15:08:31.432761817 -0700
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
         STATE    => $state,                # AppConfig::State ref
         DEBUG    => $state->_debug(),      # store local copy of debug 
         PEDANTIC => $state->_pedantic,     # and pedantic flags
+        BLOCKSEP => $state->_blocksep,     # and block separator
     };
 
     bless $self, $class;
@@ -87,7 +88,7 @@
     my $flag;
 
     # take a local copy of the state to avoid much hash dereferencing
-    my ($state, $debug, $pedantic) = @$self{ qw( STATE DEBUG PEDANTIC ) };
+    my ($state, $debug, $pedantic, $blocksep) = @$self{ qw( STATE DEBUG PEDANTIC BLOCKSEP ) };
 
     # we want to install a custom error handler into the AppConfig::State 
     # which appends filename and line info to error messages and then 
@@ -201,7 +202,7 @@
 		$flag = $1;
 
 		# $variable gets any $prefix 
-		$variable = $prefix . '_' . $variable
+		$variable = $prefix . $blocksep . $variable
 		    if length $prefix;
 
 		# if the variable doesn't exist, we call set() to give 
diff -burN AppConfig-1.56.orig/lib/AppConfig/State.pm AppConfig-1.56/lib/AppConfig/State.pm
--- AppConfig-1.56.orig/lib/AppConfig/State.pm	2004-02-04 02:11:23.000000000 -0800
+++ AppConfig-1.56/lib/AppConfig/State.pm	2004-05-28 14:42:23.588164697 -0700
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@
 
 # internal values that AUTOLOAD should provide access to
 my %METHFLAGS;
-   @METHFLAGS{ qw( PEDANTIC ) } = ();
+   @METHFLAGS{ qw( PEDANTIC BLOCKSEP ) } = ();
 
 # variable attributes that may be specified in GLOBAL;
 my @GLOBAL_OK = qw( DEFAULT EXPAND VALIDATE ACTION ARGS ARGCOUNT );
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@
         PEDANTIC   => 0,       # return immediately on parse warnings
         EHANDLER   => undef,   # error handler (let's hope we don't need it!)
         ERROR      => '',      # error message
+        BLOCKSEP   => '_',     # separator between [block] and variable name
     };
 
     bless $self, $class;
@@ -509,8 +510,8 @@
         };
             
 	
-        # CASE, CREATE and PEDANTIC are stored as they are
-        $opt =~ /^CASE|CREATE|PEDANTIC$/i && do {
+        # CASE, CREATE, PEDANTIC and BLOCKSEP are stored as they are
+        $opt =~ /^CASE|CREATE|PEDANTIC|BLOCKSEP$/i && do {
             $self->{ uc $opt } = $cfg->{ $opt };
             next;
         };
@@ -1020,6 +1021,13 @@
 DEBUG (and also PEDANTIC) values of the state at that time.  Subsequent
 changes to the AppConfig::State debug value will not affect them.
 
+=item BLOCKSEP
+
+When parsing configuration files that are grouped using constructions
+like [block], this string parameter determines what is used to
+separate the name of the block from the name of each variable
+contained within it.  If unspecified, BLOCKSEP defaults to '_'.
+
 =item GLOBAL 
 
 The GLOBAL option allows default values to be set for the DEFAULT, ARGCOUNT,