If you have a lock on the file, you can then release it.

I had considered that possibility. That would be

@a = <$fh>;
close $fh;
for (@a) { .. }
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There are reasons to load the file into an array. That's one of them, and I listed four others. But that's not the code the OP posted, and that's not the code I proclaimed should be avoided. You did not contradict me, or do you think I've already contradicted myself four times?