How to Open and Read a Text File in Perl

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Summary: Learn how to open and read text files using Perl, a popular programming language for text processing and file manipulation. This guide covers basic file handling techniques in Perl.
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When working with Perl, opening and reading a text file is a common task, especially in scenarios involving data processing, log analysis, or file manipulation. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to accomplish this:

Opening a Text File
To begin, you need to open the text file in Perl. This is achieved using the open() function, which takes two arguments: the filehandle and the file name. The filehandle is used to refer to the file within your Perl script.

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In the above code snippet:

$fh is the filehandle, which you can name as per your preference.

'<' specifies that the file is opened for reading.

Reading from the Text File
Once the file is opened, you can read its contents line by line or as a whole, depending on your requirements. Here's how you can read the file line by line using a while loop:

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Alternatively, if you want to read the entire contents of the file into a single scalar variable, you can use the read() function:

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Closing the File
It's essential to close the file once you're done reading its contents to release system resources and avoid potential issues. This is done using the close() function:

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Putting It All Together
Here's a complete example demonstrating how to open, read, and close a text file in Perl:

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That's it! You've now learned how to open and read a text file in Perl. Incorporate these techniques into your Perl scripts to handle file input effectively.