use strict;
my $filename = shift;
my ( $curpos, $charsread, $buffer );
open(LOGFILE, "<", $filename) or die "can't open file: $!";

# Read last 1024 bytes of data.  Test this via
# read to -1024 bytes from EOF.
seek(LOGFILE, -1024, 2);
$curpos = tell(LOGFILE);
$charsread = read( LOGFILE, $buffer, 1024 );

print "Chars Read: $charsread\n";
print "Buffer:     >$buffer<\n";

close(LOGFILE);