c:\@Work\Perl>perl -wMstrict -le "my @special_characters = q{# $ % & ~ _ \\ { } ^}; ;; foreach my $i (@special_characters) { print qq{>>$special_characters[$i]<<}; } " Argument "# $ % & ~ _ \\ { } ^" isn't numeric in array element at -e line 1. >># $ % & ~ _ \ { } ^<<