use strict;
use warnings;

my $p;

while (<DATA>)
{
    chomp;

    if ($p = 3 .. 5)
    {
        print "$_: \$. is $.: p is $p\n";
    }
}

__DATA__
line 1
line 2
line 3
line 4
line 5
line 6
line 7

##</code><code>##

14:00 >perl 1020_SoPW.pl
line 3: $. is 3: p is 1
line 4: $. is 4: p is 2
line 5: $. is 5: p is 3E0

14:00 >