Another way: Print last n lines of array in reverse order:

c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -e
"my @stack = (
   'line 1', 'line two', 'third line',
   'line the fourth', 'almost there', 'last line',
   );
 ;;
 my $n = 3;
 ;;
 print qq{$_ \n} for @stack[ -$n .. -1 ];
"
line the fourth
almost there
last line
[download]

The  @stack[ -$n .. -1 ] expression is an array slice. (Update: Negative indices index from the end of the array.)

Update: Oops... Just realized the lines are not printed in reverse order. Oh well, easily fixed (but not as neat):

c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -e
"my @stack = (
   'line 1', 'line two', 'third line',
   'third from last', 'almost there', 'last line',
   );
 ;;
 my $n = 3;
 ;;
 print qq{$_ \n} for reverse @stack[ -$n .. -1 ];
"
last line
almost there
third from last
[download]