@blah = qw(foo bar baz);
open(IN,"/some/file") || die "Cant access file!\nReason: $!\n";

# now we want data out of predefined data

$data1 = $blah[0];
$line1 = <IN>;

# Directory access is slightly different, but basically the
# same.. here is a quick script which is basically the same
# as ls /some/dir

opendir(DIR,"/some/dir") || die "Cant open dir!\nReason: $!\n";

# instead of using <FILEHANDLE> on dirs we use readdir(FH)
foreach $file (readdir(DIR)) {
   chomp($file);
   print "$file\n";
}
closedir(DIR);