FileHandle - supply object methods for filehandles
use FileHandle;
    $fh = new FileHandle;
    if ($fh->open("< file")) {
        print <$fh>;
        $fh->close;
    }
    $fh = new FileHandle "> FOO";
    if (defined $fh) {
        print $fh "bar\n";
        $fh->close;
    }
    $fh = new FileHandle "file", "r";
    if (defined $fh) {
        print <$fh>;
        undef $fh;       # automatically closes the file
    }
    $fh = new FileHandle "file", O_WRONLY|O_APPEND;
    if (defined $fh) {
        print $fh "corge\n";
        undef $fh;       # automatically closes the file
    }
    $pos = $fh->getpos;
    $fh->setpos($pos);
$fh->setvbuf($buffer_var, _IOLBF, 1024);
($readfh, $writefh) = FileHandle::pipe;
autoflush STDOUT 1;
NOTE: This class is now a front-end to the IO::* classes.
FileHandle::new creates a FileHandle, which is a reference to a newly created symbol (see the Symbol package). If it receives any parameters, they are passed to FileHandle::open; if the open fails, the FileHandle object is destroyed. Otherwise, it is returned to the caller.
FileHandle::new_from_fd creates a FileHandle like new does. It requires two parameters, which are passed to FileHandle::fdopen; if the fdopen fails, the FileHandle object is destroyed. Otherwise, it is returned to the caller.
FileHandle::open accepts one parameter or two. With one parameter, it is just a front end
for the built-in open function. With two parameters, the first parameter is a filename that may
include whitespace or other special characters, and the second parameter is
the open mode, optionally followed by a file permission value.
If FileHandle::open receives a Perl mode string (``>'', ``+<'', etc.) or a 
POSIX fopen() mode string (``w'', ``r+'',
etc.), it uses the basic Perl open operator.
If FileHandle::open is given a numeric mode, it passes that mode and the optional permissions
value to the Perl sysopen operator. For convenience, FileHandle::import tries to import the 
O_XXX constants from the Fcntl module. If dynamic
loading is not available, this may fail, but the rest of FileHandle will
still work.
FileHandle::fdopen is like open except that its first parameter is not a filename but rather a file handle
name, a FileHandle object, or a file descriptor number.
If the 
C functions fgetpos() and
fsetpos() are available, then
FileHandle::getpos returns an opaque value that represents the current position of the
FileHandle, and FileHandle::setpos uses that value to return to a previously visited position.
If the 
C function setvbuf() is available, then FileHandle::setvbuf
sets the buffering policy for the FileHandle. The calling sequence for the Perl function is the same as its 
C counterpart, including the macros
 _IOFBF, _IOLBF, and _IONBF, except that the buffer parameter specifies a scalar variable to use as a buffer. 
WARNING: 
A variable used as a buffer by
 FileHandle::setvbuf must not be modified in any way until the FileHandle is closed or until
FileHandle::setvbuf is called again, or memory corruption may result!
See the perlfunc manpage for complete descriptions of each of the following supported FileHandle methods, which are just front ends for the corresponding built-in functions:
    close
    fileno
    getc
    gets
    eof
    clearerr
    seek
    tell
See the perlvar manpage for complete descriptions of each of the following supported FileHandle methods:
    autoflush
    output_field_separator
    output_record_separator
    input_record_separator
    input_line_number
    format_page_number
    format_lines_per_page
    format_lines_left
    format_name
    format_top_name
    format_line_break_characters
    format_formfeed
Furthermore, for doing normal I/O you might need these:
See print.
See printf.
This works like <$fh> described in I/O Operators except that it's more readable and can be safely called in an array context but still returns just one line.
This works like <$fh> when called in an array context to read all the
remaining lines in a file, except that it's more readable. It will also
croak() if accidentally called in a scalar context.
There are many other functions available since FileHandle is descended from IO::File, IO::Seekable, and IO::Handle. Please see those respective pages for documentation on more functions.
The IO extension, the perlfunc manpage, I/O Operators.