__DATA___ File Handle

[vivekbks]

what is the use of __DATA__ filehandle in Perl.I got information that it is used to read data from that file handle

[tokpela]

It is a way of using data that is directly placed inside of the script within the __DATA__ section of the file.

It works like a filehandle but does not need to be opened or closed.

For example,

use strict;
use warnings;

while (<DATA>) {

  # works just like a file
  my $line = $_;

  # removes line feed
  chomp($line);

  # ..... add your code here

  print "LINE: $line\n";

}

__DATA__
Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
Line 4

[si_lence]

You do not need to open it, but - according to the documentation - you should close it yourself:

"The filehandle is left open pointing to the contents after __DATA__. It is the program's responsibility to close DATA when it is done reading from it." (Special Literals, as linked by Anonymous Monk).

cheers, si_lence

[ikegami]

Which is to say that you can close the file handle to release the resources it uses, but Perl will do so automatically when the program exits if it's still open.

[Anonymous Monk]

It is explained in perldata section Special Literals

Tutorials: Getting Started with Perl