sub breakEmailAddress
{
   my ($address) = shift(@_); 
   my @components = split('@', $address); 
   my @counter    = split('@', $address);
   return (\@components, \@counter);
}

my ($first, $second) = breakEmailAddress('john@some.domain.com');
print "FirstArr: @$first\n";
print "SecondArr: @$second\n";

##</code><code>##

sub breakEmailAddress
{
   my ($components, $counter, $address) = shift(@_); 
   @$components = split('@', $address); 
   @$counter    = split('@', $address);
}

# breakEmailAddress(my @first, my @second, 'john@some.domain.com'); XXX

my(@first,@second);
breakEmailAddress(\@first, \@second, 'john@some.domain.com');  # Fixed thanks to shmem

print "FirstArr: @first\n";
print "SecondArr: @second\n";