> when it encounters the __END__ then it stops reading?

Right this happens at compile time and DATA° is exactly that filehandle which points there.

That's why you can continue reading from <DATA> or use seek to set DATA back and read the source again. ( better not at compile time though ;)

Cheers Rolf
(addicted to the Perl Programming Language :)
Wikisyntax for the Monastery FootballPerl is like chess, only without the dice

°) there is a minor difference between DATA and END which doesn't matter in this case.

See perldata#Special-Literals

In reply to Re: Does perl read the entire pl file into memory? by LanX
in thread Does perl read the entire pl file into memory? by harangzsolt33

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