my $first_line = <DATA>;
 
while (<DATA>) {
  ...
}
[download]

while (<DATA>) {
  next if $. == 1;
}
[download]

The other suggestions thus far assume a line-by-line read of the file, if you're slurping the file in, howz about...

my ($first, @rest) = <DATA>;
warn "first: $first";
warn "rest:\n@rest";
__DATA__
header
line1
line2
[download]

user@unforgiven:~$ perl tst.pl
first: header
rest:  line1
 line2
user@unforgiven:~$
[download]

perl -e 'while(<>){print if ($.>1);}' filename
[download]

?node_id=3989;HIT=first%20line%20file;re=N

Skipping the header in a for loop (implied with a statement modifier) is quite flexible as you can skip one, two or many lines with equal facility. It also has the advantage that the scalar receiving the readline only exists within the loop.

my $discard = <$fh> for 1 .. 1;
# $discard no longer in scope here.
[download]

I hope this is of interest.

Update: Fixed typo.

Update 2: ikegami has pointed out that this code is invalid and explained why so don't do this.

my ... for ...; is not valid Perl. { my $discard = <$fh>; } would do, but there's no reason to give the line to any scalar.

my ... for ...; is not valid Perl.

Well, it seems to compile and run with no warnings or errors.

use strict;
use warnings;

my $discard = <DATA> for 1 .. 2;
print while <DATA>;

__END__
Header 1
Header 2
Data 1
Data 2
Data 3
[download]

$ ./spw770971
Data 1
Data 2
Data 3
$
[download]

Please could you explain in what way it is not valid.

Cheers,

JohnGG

Hmmmm. Thought I was going to agree with ikegami (or, at least ++ the parent)...
but for some unknown reason, decided to check (with a little elaboration)... and got this surprise:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
# from thread 770979

my $discard ="|";

$discard .=  <DATA> for 1 .. 2;

print " " . "-" x19 . "\n \$discard: $discard\n" ." " . "-" x19 . "\n"
+;

print while <DATA>;

=head  OUTPUT:
 -------------------
 $discard: |Header 1
Header 2

 -------------------
Data 1
Data 2
Data 3
=cut

__END__
Header 1
Header 2
Data 1
Data 2
Data 3
[download]

Now, yes, for real-world tasks, there's no need to stick the skipped lines into a $var, but johngg's reply to citromatik reflects a mindset I frequently favor, too, when responding to what appears to be either a newbie question or one that could have been answered with a bit of searching (i.e." ?node_id=3989;BIT=skip%2C%20first%20line%2C%20file;BIS=%20%2C).

my $discard = <$fh> for 1 .. 1;
# $discard no longer in scope here.
[download]

I don't get the point, in what sense is your example better than this?

<$fh>;

or

<$fh> for 0..2;

The diamond operator doesn't use $_ as default, so using it in "void" context silently reads the next line of the filehandle

citromatik

silently reads the next line

I use $discard to make it more obvious that the return value of the readline is being thrown away.

Cheers,

JohnGG