>I would prefer your Option #2, "... in concatenation (.) or interpolation >... " % perl -lwe '@a[0,2] = (0,2); print "@a $a", "$a", $a' Use of uninitialized value in join at -e line 1. Use of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) at -e line 1. Use of uninitialized value in string at -e line 1. Use of uninitialized value in print at -e line 1. --tom