use FileHandle::Unget; my $fh = FileHandle::Unget->new(\*STDIN) or die "Cannot open filehandle: $!"; my $testline = <$fh>;; $fh->ungets($testline); print "$.: $testline"; for (my $i = 0; $i < 3; $i++) { $testline = <$fh>; print "$.: $testline"; }