This is my script:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;

my (@name, @phone, @address, @birthday, @salary, @state, @fname, @lnam
+e);
my ($n, $p, $a, $b, $s, $first, $last);

die "Please supply a file...\nUsage: ./adb0011.pl <file>\n" unless my 
+$file = shift;

open (FILE, "<", $file) or die "Failed to open $file!\n";

while (<FILE>) {
  ($n, $p, $a, $b, $s) = split(/:/);
  push(@name, $n);
  push(@phone, $p);
  push(@address, $a);
  push(@birthday, $b);
  push(@salary, $s);
}

close FILE

foreach (@name) {
  ($first, $last) = split(/\s/);
  push(@fname, $first);
  push(@lname, $last);
}

print "$_\n" foreach (@lname);
[download]

When I put the code that shouldn't depend on the filehandle below the filehandle, I get syntax errors.

But If I do it like this:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;

my (@name, @phone, @address, @birthday, @salary, @state, @fname, @lnam
+e);
my ($n, $p, $a, $b, $s, $first, $last);

die "Please supply a file...\nUsage: ./adb0011.pl <file>\n" unless my 
+$file = shift;

open (FILE, "<", $file) or die "Failed to open $file!\n";

while (<FILE>) {
  ($n, $p, $a, $b, $s) = split(/:/);
  push(@name, $n);
  push(@phone, $p);
  push(@address, $a);
  push(@birthday, $b);
  push(@salary, $s);
}

foreach (@name) {
  ($first, $last) = split(/\s/);
  push(@fname, $first);
  push(@lname, $last);
}

print "$_\n" foreach (@lname);

close FILE
[download]

Then everything works fine.

Why can I not put code below the filehandle that should not depend on the filehandle being closed or not?

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