# I am running with perl -w && strict BTW
sub read_file_or_handle {

    my $file_or_handle = shift;
    chomp $file_or_handle;

    unless(open FH, $file_or_handle )
    {
	no strict q(refs);
	*FH = *file_or_handle;
    }

    while (<FH>) {
       ...
    }
    close FH;  # closes it no matter what is was, right?
     
    # return something I read
}