#!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings; use feature qw{ say }; unlink "./log.txt" or warn "$!"; open OUT, '>>', 'log.txt' or die $!; print OUT "before system\n"; print `type log.txt`; print OUT "after system\n"; open IN, '<', 'log.txt' or die $!; my $nothing = ; say "Before close: $nothing.\n"; close OUT; my $bla = ; say "After close: $bla.\n";