use strict;
use warnings;
# some gratituitous
  # and wacky
     # comments

my $filename = "next.pl";
open(SOMEFILE, $filename) or die "Could not open file $filename";
LINE: while (<SOMEFILE>)
{
  # if the line starts with a comment, then skip it
  next LINE if ( /^\s*#/ );
  print "LINE: $_";
}

close(SOMEFILE);