This idiom is called the HEREDOC. Think of 

<<END;
sometext
more
END

[download]
being equivalent to "$var" where $var contains everything between the first line and the last line.

It is interpolated, so any vars inside the HEREDOC is also expanded. So 

$foo = 'danmcb';
print <<END;
$foo was here
and here
END
# will print
danmcb was here
and here

[download]

Most wherever you can use $var, you can usually use the HEREDOC. For example 

my $text = $cgi->param('text') || <<END;
some text passed via the cgi
END

[download]

works very well. Keep in mind, the trailing END has to be flush with the left most column.

--

when small people start casting long shadows, it is time to go to bed

In reply to Re: assign a string using multiline format by punkish
in thread assign a string using multiline format by danmcb

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.