note QM That works for files in the default case, because every line will have a newline or somesuch, and will not be an empty string. For counting, <code>map</code> would be more appropriate than <code>grep</code>. But [tobyink] showed the idiom [id://1001550|above]: <code> my $lines =()= <$file>; </code> <div class="pmsig"><div class="pmsig-294463"> <p>-QM<br /> --<br /> Quantum Mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of </div></div> 1001549 1001614