If you are on Microsoft Windows using NTFS then you can use an Additional Data Stream (ADS), which is used for exactly your purpose with, for example, Notepad. ADS streams are marked with a :suffix. For example, from cmd.exe:
echo secret > fred.txt:hidden more < fred.txt:hidden secret
The hidden ADS is otherwise not normally visible. In Perl you can open, read, and write, ADS files in the same way as any other.

In reply to Re: Retrieving meta information from txt by cdarke
in thread Retrieving meta information from txt by fanticla

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