use strict; use warnings; my $arrayref = ['A','_B','C']; for my $str (@$arrayref) { print "BEFORE: str = $str\n"; } for (@$arrayref) { my $str = $_; $str =~ s/^_//; print "INNER: str = $str\n"; } for my $str (@$arrayref) { print "AFTER: str = $str\n"; }