#!/usr/bin/perl use Devel::Peek; my $str = 'the key is:'; my $key = 'hello'; Dump($key); decrypt( $str, $key ); $key = 'gone!'; # $key = 'x'x100000; # a string that won't fit will change PV Dump($key); decrypt( $str, $key ); sub decrypt { warn "\nGot @_\n\n" }