Perl | tell() Function

Last Updated : 11 Jul, 2025
tell() function in Perl is used to get the position of the read pointer in a File with the use of its FileHandle. If no FileHandle is passed then it returns the position within the most recent accessed file.
Syntax: tell(FileHandle) Parameter: FileHandle: Filehandle of the file to be accessed. Returns: the current position of the read pointer
Example 1: Perl 
#!/usr/bin/perl 
 
# Opening a File in Read-only mode 
open(fh, "<", "Hello.txt"); 

$position = tell(fh);
print("Position of read pointer before reading: $position");
 
# Reading first 10 characters from the file
for($i = 0; $i < 10; $i++)
{
    $ch = getc(fh);
}

$position = tell(fh);

# Current position of the read pointer
print("\nCurrent Position: $position");
 
# Closing the File 
close(fh);
Output: Example 2: Perl 
#!/usr/bin/perl 
 
# Opening a File in Read-only mode 
open(fh, "<", "Hello.txt"); 

$position = tell(fh);
print("Position of read pointer before reading: $position\n");

# Printing First 10 Characters
print("First ten characters are: ");

# Reading and printing first 
# 10 characters from the file
for($i = 0; $i < 10; $i++)
{
    $ch = getc(fh);
    print" $ch";
}

$position = tell(fh);

# Current position of the read pointer
print("\nCurrent Position: $position");
 
# Closing the File 
close(fh);
Output:
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