Skipping the first 4 lines of a file:: Is there a better way?

PerlBear has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Greetings Fellow Monks!
In a nutshell what I would like to do is skip the first 4 lines of a data file that I am reading in. Essentially the first 4 lines are junk, header info that I don't need.
Basically I already do know how to do this; I have supplied my two approaches to the task below, both of which work just fine. I am just wondering if there is an even better way to do it, perhaps a one-liner.... (always looking for those efficient little one liners) :) :) :)
the code:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use FileHandle;
my $infile="T:/data.dat";
open(IN,"$infile") or die "CANNOT OPEN $infile !!\a\n";
my $c=0;
while ($c<4){
    my $junk=<IN>;
    $c++;
}
[download]

..or perhaps even less elegant...

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use FileHandle;
my $infile="T:/data.dat";
open(IN,"$infile") or die "CANNOT OPEN $infile !!\a\n";
my $junk=<IN>;
$junk=<IN>;
$junk=<IN>;
$junk=<IN>;
[download]

I am basically curious what other perhaps better ways that this can be done.
As always, your thoughts, bits of wisdom, and insight are greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance!

Comment on Skipping the first 4 lines of a file:: Is there a better way? Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Skipping the first 4 lines of a file:: Is there a better way? by Joost (Canon) on Jun 03, 2005 at 12:26 UTC
`#!/usr/bin/perl -n next unless $. > 4; # your code here` [download] edit: see perlvar and perlrun "What should it profit a man, if he should win a flame war, yet lose his cool?"	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Skipping the first 4 lines of a file:: Is there a better way? by mrborisguy (Hermit) on Jun 03, 2005 at 13:07 UTC
Something like your first, but in a for loop: `for ( 1..4 ) { <IN> }` [download] But really what I would do: `<IN> for ( 1..4 );` [download] -Bryan	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Skipping the first 4 lines of a file:: Is there a better way? by djohnston (Monk) on Jun 03, 2005 at 16:16 UTC
If slurping were an option, I'd do it like this: `local (undef, undef, undef, undef, @_) = <IN>;`	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Skipping the first 4 lines of a file:: Is there a better way? by sh1tn (Priest) on Jun 03, 2005 at 14:15 UTC
If the size of the file is not a concern: `... my $skip = 4; { open FH, "filename"; local@_ = <FH>; close FH; @_ = split /(?:.+\n){$skip}/m, "@_"; for( @_ ){ # work without first four lines } } ...` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Skipping the first 4 lines of a file:: Is there a better way? by Fletch (Bishop) on Jun 03, 2005 at 14:22 UTC
`@_ = split /(?:.+\n){$skip}/m, "@_";` [download] Gah, that's terribly inefficient. `splice( @_, 0, $skip )` at the least if you feel you have to modify `@_`. `foreach( @_[ $skip .. $#_ ] ) { ... }` would be even better since it doesn't have to move anything around. Update: Changed from hardcoded 4 to `$skip` to match. -- We're looking for people in ATL	[reply] [d/l] [select]
A reply falls below the community's threshold of quality. You may see it by logging in.
Re^2: Skipping the first 4 lines of a file:: Is there a better way? by fishbot_v2 (Chaplain) on Jun 03, 2005 at 15:02 UTC
Efficiency aside, does this really work? Okay, well, I know the answer: it doesn't. There is no limit on the split, and the delimiter is any {4} lines. So, if my file is 10 lines long, I get two empty strings, then the remaining 2 lines. Infact, you only ever end up with the last X lines of your file (where X = lines % $skip), preceeded with (lines div $skip) empty strings. `@_ = split /(?:.+\n){$skip}/m, "@_", 2; # add limit # closer, but now I have @_ == 2, # since there is a leading null shift @_; # now I have a single element array with # the file remainder in $_[0] @_ = split /\n/, $_[0]; # now I have the desired results.` [download] I agree that solutions don't always need to be the most efficient, but parsing through the entire file at least three times is O(n) where O(1) is available in a single line of code.	[reply] [d/l]