my $file_cont; # define a variable for keeping of file content my $fname = '/tmp/your_file'; open INPUT, $fname or die "Can't open file $fname: $!"; binmode INPUT; # If your file is binare read INPUT, $file_cont, -s $fname; close INPUT or die "Can't close file $fname: $!"; #### read FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET or read FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH