Another possibility, untested. 
open(FH, 'logfile.txt') || die "Could not op en logfile.txt";
@arr=<FH>; # Read whole file into array. 
my $lines=10; # Print last 10 lines
my $start=$#arr-$lines;
for $i (@arr($start..$#arr))
    {
    print "$arr[$i]\n";
    }
close(FH);

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Perl 5.8.8 on Redhat Linux RHEL 5.5.56 (64-bit)

In reply to Re: tailing a file without printing its entire contents by bulrush
in thread tailing a file without printing its entire contents by ChRy0

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