split /\n/ works fine for me, there must be more to your problem than you are identifying?
#! perl -slw
use strict;
my $text = <<EOT;
this is line 1
this is line 2
this is line 3
this is line 4
this is line 5
EOT
my @lines = split /\n/, $text;
print for @lines;
Examine what is said, not who speaks.
1) When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2) The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible
3) Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Arthur C. Clarke.