Perl has a unique feature where if it sees a line that contains __DATA__ the parser will stop there as if the file ended. This allows you put non-perl code after your __DATA__ line: text, json, HTML, etc. Perl will even allow you to read the text after the __DATA__ like it's a normal file handle. This function will read all the text after your __DATA__ block.

sub get_data_str {
    local $/ = undef; # Slurp mode
    return readline(DATA);
}

Note: Perl also recognizes __END__ but that text is not readable.

See also: PHP version