If you don't want to open the files in your code you could use a system call. 
my $success = ( system("grep $searchpat $file >/dev/null") ) ? 0 : 1;

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as long as its a simple pattern.
Ted
--
"That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved."
  --Ralph Waldo Emerson

In reply to Re: search for a pattern in file without opening the file by tcf03
in thread search for a pattern in file without opening the file by Anonymous Monk

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