Why doesn't "local($foo) = <FILE>;" work right?

    Well, it does.  The thing to remember is that local() provides an array
    context, and that the <FILE> syntax in an array context will read all the
    lines in a file.  To work around this, use:

        local($foo);
        $foo = <FILE>;

    You can use the scalar() operator to cast the expression into a scalar
    context:

        local($foo) = scalar(<FILE>);