#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use IO::All;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper qw(Dumper);

my @lines = io('in.txt')->chomp->slurp;      # Chomp as you slurp
print Dumper \@lines;

@lines = grep { $_ ne '' } @lines; # Skip empty elements
print Dumper \@lines;

__END__
$ perl test.pl
$VAR1 = [
          'line1',
          'line2',
          '',
          'line4',
          '',
          'line6'
        ];
$VAR1 = [
          'line1',
          'line2',
          'line4',
          'line6'
        ];

##</code><code>##

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper qw(Dumper);

my @lines;
while (<>) {
    chomp;
    next if /^\s*$/; # skip blank lines;
    # next if /^\s*#/;  # skip comments
    push @lines, $_;
} continue {
    close ARGV if eof;  # Not eof()!
}

print Dumper \@lines;

__END__

$ perl test.pl in.txt
$VAR1 = [
          'line1',
          'line2',
          'line4',
          'line6'
        ];