printing first 40 lines in one string

[DBSMITH]

All, 

was hoping for some advice..... :)

I have a file that looks like this:

e4343
d3434
34344
43434
de434

and I am printing the first 40 lines using

$foo = qw(my/file/with/40+lines);
print substr ( $foo,0,39 );

but how do I print all of these lines on one line with a space meaning 
e4343 d3434 34344 43434 de434.
?

thanks!

 
derek