chomp ( my @some_data = <DATA> );
#...
__DATA__
lines
of
data
here
[download]

Phil

I deliberately crafted the code in that node after the the snippet you gave in that question, to give you a better resemblance what change I proposed to your code.
I even let things in there not used in my code, like the variables $year and friends.

But then, my code was a tested complete script, which you are able to save and execute as-is. So I thought it was clear, that some things have to be taken in its own context and can't be transplanted into another (your) script without adaption.

It seems I failed miserably with this approach.

But then, my code was a tested complete script, which you are able to save and execute as-is. So I thought it was clear, that some things have to be taken in its own context and can't be transplanted into another (your) script without adaption.

Haha, you seem to have no clue about how Win is used to "work". You have a vast literature to study!

Look for the "Special Literals" section in perldata for a description of __DATA__, __END__ and DATA.