If you set $/ to a reference to a (numerical) scalar value then the next time you use <FILE> to read from a filehandle, it will read that number of bytes from the file.

{
  # Always change Perl special vars localised in a block
  local $/ = \1024;

  while (<FILE>) {
    # $_ contains the next 1024 bytes from FILE
  }
}
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<http://www.dave.org.uk>

"Perl makes the fun jobs fun
and the boring jobs bearable" - me