#!/usr/bin/env perl use strict; use warnings; use Data::Dumper; my @retarr = (); print "At init " . Dumper (\@retarr); @retarr = void (); print "After void " . Dumper (\@retarr); @retarr = getlist (); print "After getlist " . Dumper (\@retarr); exit; sub void { # doesn't return anything } sub getlist { my @foo; while ($#foo < 2) { my $module_id = rand (); push @foo, $module_id; } return @foo; }