assign a value to $INPUT_LINE

HYanWong has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I'm reading my way through a large (18GB) text file, then seeking to the start of the file again for re-reading (I don't want to close and re-open the filehandle).

I'd like to give some feedback about how far through the file I am, so I'm checking the value of $. and printing every millionth line, as a check using unless($. % 1000000). When I seek to the start again, $. is not reset, so different lines are printed. So I'd like to set $.= 0 just before my seek(FILE,0,0). Is assigning to $. considered bad form, or inadvisable? I'd prefer not to use my own variable to keep track of line count - it seem neater to use the built-in one.

Comment on assign a value to $INPUT_LINE_NUMBER Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: assign a value to $INPUT_LINE_NUMBER by choroba (Cardinal) on Mar 04, 2013 at 14:38 UTC
Setting $. when seeking is OK. Sometimes, I even use `seek $FH, $. = 0, 0;` [download] لսႽ† ᥲᥒ⚪⟊Ⴙᘓᖇ Ꮅᘓᖇ⎱ Ⴙᥲ𝇋ƙᘓᖇ	[reply] [d/l]
Re: assign a value to $INPUT_LINE_NUMBER by Anonymous Monk on Mar 04, 2013 at 22:50 UTC
seek -> Perl functions by category -> Input and output functions -> tell - get current seekpointer on a filehandle	[reply]