while (<FILE>) {
    $line = $_;

##</code><code>##

while ( my $line = <FILE> ) {

##</code><code>##

johngg@shiraz:~/perl/Monks > perl -Mstrict -Mwarnings -E '
my $text = q{abcd};
say qq{>$text<};
$text = pack q{A10}, $text;
say qq{>$text<};'
>abcd<
>abcd      <
johngg@shiraz:~/perl/Monks > perl -Mstrict -Mwarnings -E '
my $text = q{abcd};
say qq{>$text<};
$text = pack q{A2}, $text;
say qq{>$text<};'
>abcd<
>ab<

##</code><code>##

johngg@shiraz:~/perl/Monks > perl -Mstrict -Mwarnings -E '
my @items = q{a} .. q{g};
s{(.*)}{"$1"} for @items[ 0, 1, 3, 5, 6];
say for @items;'
"a"
"b"
c
"d"
e
"f"
"g"

##</code><code>##

say join q{,}, @items;