Your markers look like they are fixed strings, so
if( $_ eq "--end foo--\n"){
# . . .
}
seems like a better test. Leave off "\n" if you chomp it.
A couple more approaches come to mind. If the file is not too big, you can abuse $/ to get the content in two gulps.
my $interesting_bit;
{
# maybe open here . . .
local $/ = '--start foo--' . "\n";
$interesting_bit = <FILE>;
local $/ = '--end foo--' . "\n";
$interesting_bit = <FILE>;
# . . . and close here
}
That could burden memory.
A third way is similar to yours, but uses the flip-flop operator to condense the code.
my $interesting_bit;
{
# maybe open here . . .
local $_;
while (<FILE>) {
if ($_ eq "--start foo--\n" .. $_ eq "--end foo--\n" ) {
$interesting_bit .= $_;
}
elsif ( $interesting_bit ) { last }
}
# . . . and close
}
This makes the same assumption about there being only one interesting bit. If the variable is populated while the flip-flop is false, we've run past the end marker and can quit reading.
I just noticed that I've changed the $interesting_bit variable from a flag in your code to an accumulator for the content. If you just set it true in the lhs of the flip-flop and do your processing in place of my .= operation, all will be well.
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