c:\test>perl -Mstrict -MData::Dump=pp -wle"my @r=1..10; @{ @r }='a'..'c'; pp \@r" ["a", "b", "c"] #### c:\test>\perl510\bin\perl -MData::Dump=pp -wle"my @r=1..10; @{ @r }='a'..'c'; pp \@r" [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] c:\test>\perl510\bin\perl -Mstrict -MData::Dump=pp -wle"my @r=1..10; @{ @r }='a'..'c'; pp \@r" Can't use string ("10") as an ARRAY ref while "strict refs" in use at -e line 1.