johngg@aleatico:~$ perl -Mstrict -Mwarnings -E ' my @arr = ( 234, 405, 55, 1900 ); say shift @arr; say sub { shift }->( 234, 405, 55, 1900 ); $_ = q{ab,ce ef}; say sub { shift }->( split m{,} );' 234 234 ab