my @array = <FILE>;
close FILE;

# Print line 10
print $array[10];
[download]

Not quite. That prints line 11. I would do something like this:

my $findline = 10;

while (<FILE>) {
    next unless $. == $findline;
    # .. do something
    last; #don't read any more
}
[download]

For the original question "do something" would probably be a seek backwards to the desired char, or perhaps more sensibly, stop the line before and seek forwards.

for more info on $. and friends, see perldoc perlvar

-- simonflk