gistfile1.txt

#!/usr/bin/env perl

use Modern::Perl;
use autodie;

my $x;
open my $f, "<", $ARGV[0];

seek $f, $ARGV[1], 0;

if ($ARGV[2]) {
    read $f, $x, $ARGV[2];
    print $x;
} 
else {
    print $x while (read $f, $x, 2048);
}