while () {
    $_ = substr($records, $p, index($records, "\n", $p) - $p);
    last if (!$_); $p += length($_) + 1;
    # do whatever with data now in $_
}

while ($records =~ /(.*?)\n/g) {
    # do whatever with data now in $1
}

##</code><code>##

for (split(/\n/, $records)) {
    # do whatever with data now in $_
}