open (my $in_fh, $infile) or die;
local $/; # enable slurping mode
my $data = <$in_fh>;
close $in_fh;

##</code><code>##

my $data = handoverthedata();
(...)
sub handoverthedata{
    # Inlined data starts here
    # and gets stored in my $foo...
    # Data
    # Data
    # Data
    # Data
    # Data
    # Data
    # Data
    # Data
    # Data
    # Data
    # Data
    # Data
    # Data
    return $foo;
}