#!/usr/bin/perl -w

=head1 CONFUSION, SELF-DOUBT, AND BEER

=begin text

 ## Well this test script was propted by a query on File::Slurp and later file slurp which led me to 'Slurp a file' (http://perlmonks.com/index.pl?node_id=50525) by AnonymousMonk:

Description: Slurp a file into a scalar. Jean-Daniel Gamache webmaster@perls.org

open (IN, "<myfile.txt");
{local $/; $file_content = <IN>;}
print $file_content;

## Then davorg (man with the munchies) replies with:

Oops. You've just left $/ set to undef for the rest of the program. This can lead to all sorts of nastiness.

Better to do something like this:

my $file_text;

{
  local $/;
  $file_text = <FILE>;
}

print $file_text;

Which returns $/ to its original value once you leave the bare block.

-- 
<http://www.dave.org.uk> 
"Perl makes the fun jobs fun
and the boring jobs bearable" - me

## This really had me confused.
The original post had a block, it doesn't matter (and 'the Rock' chimes in 'It doesn't matter!') where you declare $file_content, as it has no bearing on local or $/ since {;;;;;} is a valid block!....

I was kind of in doubt of my faculties for a split second, and then I scrolled down the page, and found an AnonymousMonk node saying "Sorry, you were right!"

Then it came to me (in a vision =;:): davorg had been coding drunk again.
  ... there's always a valuable lesson to be learned ... keep (c|n)ode-ing

=end

=cut

# some quick test code

print '$/',"is = '$/';\n";

    {
        local $/; # in effect, makes $/ uninitialized
        print '$/',"is = '$/';\n";
        print <DATA>;
    }

print '$/',"is = '$/';\n";

__DATA__
I AM DATA