my @array = ("joby", "andy", "ben", "tom", "bob"); print "start\n"; for my $name (@array){ print "$name\n"; } print "\nmiddle\n"; foreach my $name (@array){ print "$name "; if($name eq 'joby'){ shift(@array); print "deleted\n"; next; } print "ok\n"; } print "\nend\n"; for my $name (@array){ print "$name\n"; }