use CGI; my $q = CGI->new( { one => 1, two => 2, three => 3 } ); test( map{$q->param($_)||"${_}_IS_NULL"}qw(one two three) , 4 ); test( ( map{$q->param($_)||"${_}_IS_NULL"}qw(one two three) ), 4 ); sub test { $"=', ';print "Args( @_ )\n" } __DATA__ Args( 1, 2, 3, 4_IS_NULL ) Args( 1, 2, 3, 4 )