package MyConfigReader;

sub readConfig {
  my ($file,$var) = @_;
  open FILE, "< $file" or die "can't read $file: $!";
  while (<FILE>) {
    chomp;
    my ($k,$v) = split /=/, $_, 2;
    return $v if $k eq $var;
  }
  close FILE;
  return;
}

##</code><code>##

use MyConfigReader;

$/ = "not gonna happen";
MyConfigReader::readConfig("whatever.dat");

##</code><code>##

sub readConfig {
  my ($file,$var) = @_;
  local ($_, $/);
  $/ = "\n";
  # rest of function
}