I got this to work: 
use strict;

  package MyFile;

  ## Constructor ##
  sub new {
    my $self = {};
    bless $self;
  }

  sub open_file {
    my $self = shift;
    open(FH, "textfile") || die "can't open file";
    $self->{FH} = \*FH;
  }

  sub read_file {
    my $self = shift;
    my $line;
    my $f = $self->{FH};
    while (defined ($line = <$f>)) {
        print "Line from file is: $line\n";
    }
  }

my $my_object = new();
$my_object->open_file();
$my_object->read_file();

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I think what's happening is:
<$self->{FH}>

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is being parsed like
<$self->   {FH}  >

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That is, a file handle specification, with a subscript outside the <>'s, followed by a >, which is a syntax error.

Alan

In reply to RE: File handles in an object by ferrency
in thread File handles in an object by sluap

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