1:sub read_template 
2:{
3:    my($file_name_ref,$lines_in_ref) = @_;
4:    my $line_cnt  = 0;

5:    open (INPUT, "$$file_name_ref") ||
6:        die "Can't open $$file_name_ref as input:$!"; 
7:    while (<INPUT>) 
8:    {
9:        $line_cnt++;
10:       $$lines_in_ref .= $_;
11:    }
12:    close (INPUT);
13:    return($line_cnt);
14:}