Re: Perl Idioms Explained - my $string = do { local $/; <FILEHANDLE> };

[Zaxo]

It may be useful to restrict the scope of the file handle as well, since slurping is a one pass approach. That may be done with

my $string = do {
    local $/;
    open local(*FILEHANDLE), 'somefile.txt' or die $!;
    <FILEHANDLE>
};

or, better if lexical filehandles are available,

my $string = do {
    local $/;
    open my $fh, 'somefile.txt' or die $!;
    <$fh>
};

since the lexical handle is properly closed when it goes out of scope. Either way ensures no interference with other handles of the same name.

After Compline,
Zaxo

[Zaxo]

The truly modern PerlIO approach would be,     open my $fh, '<:raw', '/path/to/somefile.txt' or die $!; but I'd do it with binmode still, right after opening.

After Compline,
Zaxo

[John M. Dlugosz]

How about opening it in binary mode? I would historically use a binmode after opening, but in 5.8 I should be able to use :raw or something like that. When I tried once, I spent a few minutes trying to make it work, and went back to the old way. What's the polished form of the idiom that uses the new syntax for binary files?