my $name1="chrom1 unique"; print "NAME1 $name1\n"; cog_class(@c1_uniq_cog_ids, $name1); sub cog_class { my (@c1_uniq_cog_ids, $name) = @_; # DOESN'T WORK BELOW! print "NAME $name\n"; for (my $i=0; $i<@c1_uniq_cog_ids; $i++) { # BLAH BLAH } }