Are you assuming that 'alpha' is also always the first line in the file?

Also, the posted flipflop doesn't behave the same as the OP

A simpler way to just use a flag and short circuit the regex work: 

    my $seen = 0;
    while (<$fh>)
    {
        if ( !$seen and m/^alpha$/)
        {
            $seen = 'yes indeed';
            print "true\n";
        }else{
            print "false\n";
        }
    }

[download]

Given a test file of:

foo
bar
alpha
beta
gamma
delta

[download]
The results I got are:
Original:
false
false
true
false
false
false

Flipflop:
Argument "" isn't numeric in numeric gt (>) at test.pl line 21, <$fh> 
+line 1.
false
Argument "" isn't numeric in numeric gt (>) at test.pl line 21, <$fh> 
+line 2.
false
false
true
true
true

Flag:
false
false
true
false
false
false

[download]

In reply to Re^3: A way to avoid repeated conditional loops by SuicideJunkie
in thread A way to avoid repeated conditional loops by Deus Ex

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