You could use the -00 command line switch, see -0 in perlrun, to read the file in paragraph mode:

    #!/usr/bin/perl -w -00

    use strict;

    open TABFILE, "tabfile" or die "Error message here: $!";

    my @array = <TABFILE>;

    print scalar @array; # prints 6 for the above file
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You can get the same effect from within a program by setting $/ = "":

    #!/usr/bin/perl -w

    use strict;

    open TABFILE, "tabfile" or die "Error message here: $!";

    {
        local $/ = "";
        my @array = <TABFILE>;
    }

    print scalar @array;
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See $/ in perlvar for an explanation of this.

--
John.