However, if you're asking how to print the last line of a file, then
it's fairly easy:

        #! /usr/local/bin/perl -w

        use strict;

        my $last;

        while (<>)
                { $last = $_; }

        if (defined $last)
                {
                chomp $last;
                print "The last line was '$last'.\n";
                }
        else
                {
                print "There doesn't appear to have been any input.\n";
                }

Hope that helps.

If you're on Unix

my $last_line = `tail -1 $file`;

Otherwise:

open(FILE, $file) or die $!;

# If the file is small
my $last_line = (<FILE>)[-1];
# or
my ($last_line) = reverse <FILE>;

# If the file is larger:
my $last_line;
while(<FILE>) { $last_line = $_ }

# If the file is large
use File::ReadBackwards;
my $fbw = File::ReadBackwards->new($file) or die $!;
my $last_line = $fbw->readline;

or you can write stuff with seek and such that does what the
abovementioned module does.

maybe this should be added to the FAQ.

: I'm trying to read the last line of a file only, using print, any ideas ?

Well, you can't really _read_ using print().

Here's one solution:

  print +(<FH>)[-1];

This is of course, dependent on what $/ is set to.

        perl -ne'print if eof' yourfile

Joy,
Yanick

  YC> : I'm trying to read the last line of a file only, using print, any ideas ?

  YC>        perl -ne'print if eof' yourfile

use File::ReadBackwards ;

$fh = File::ReadBackwards( 'foo' ) ;

print $fh->readline() ;

uri