Yes, I didn't think of that. Maybe this would be better: 
sub gulp {
    my ($file, $count) = @_;
    my @lines;
    for (1..$count) {
       push @lines, scalar <$file>;
       last if eof $file;
    }
    return @lines;
}

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Perl 6 - second systems done right

In reply to Re^3: reading several lines in a gulp by moritz
in thread reading several lines in a gulp by John M. Dlugosz

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