Importing data into a CI application?

[eluser]michaelh99[/eluser]
This is a really basic question but I'm not sure where to begin looking for the answer.

I have a CI app (www.danceminder.com) and I'd like to be able to take a text file version of my data and import it into my database.

I can create a well-structured file for input and can conceptually see how I might go about this but the details as they relate to CI are eluding me.

It seems like using Perl would be perfect for taking the source text and doing the parsing but that's as far as I've gotten. I'd like to make the appropriate model calls for getting the data into the database but I'm not sure where to start.

Anyone have any pointers and/or links that can help get me started?