{
   local $/ = "\n";
   $line = <FILE>;
}

{
   local $/ = \200;
   $record = <FILE>;
}

##</code><code>##

> cat > test.pl
$/ = \10;
$record = <STDIN>;
print("[", length($record), "]\n");

> perl test.pl
1234
67890123
[10]