my ($file,$wFH);
if ( @ARGV ) { $file = shift; }
else         { $file = "STDOUT"; }


my $message = "this is a test\n";

if ( $file ne "STDOUT" ) {
    open $wFH, ">", $file
      or die;
} else {
    $wFH = *STDOUT;
}
print $wFH $message;