I much prefer

use Text::CSV_XS; use IO::File;
my $io = IO::File->new( $filename, '<' ) or die "Can't read $filename:
+ $!";
my $csv = Text::CSV_XS->new();
until ( $io->eof ) {
   my $row = $csv->getline($io));
   # do something with the ARRAYref $row
}
[download]

It's not much longer, but provides all kinds of error handling, is easier to maintain (and easier to read), and handles all the ins and outs of escaping, etc. As idsfa says, "CSV is hard".

Not only that, Text::CSV_XS is really fast to boot.

Don't do stuff yourself that others have already done and tested thoroughly -- this is true Laziness.