Well, you're not losing any data (with the $/ trick, that is). The value of the $/ variable is also put at the end of the read 'line'.

If you want to lose that data, use chomp(), it will remove your current line-terminator.

The only actual problem is matching the first line.

-- 
Joost       downtime n. The period during which a system
            is error-free and immune from user input.
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