$values[0] = undef; $values[2] = undef; $values[4] = undef; print Dumper \@values; # generates the output : $VAR1 = [ undef, undef, undef, ${\$VAR1->[1]}, undef, ${\$VAR1->[1]}, undef ]; $values[1] = undef $values[3] = undef $values[5] = undef print join( "\n", \$values[0], \$values[1], \$values[2], \$values[3], \$values[4], \$values[5], \$values[6] ); # generates the output : SCALAR(0x8279dd4) SCALAR(0x81d64e0) SCALAR(0x8279d50) SCALAR(0x81d6294) SCALAR(0x8279d38) SCALAR(0x81d627c) SCALAR(0x8279e10)