#!/usr/bin/perl -l
use strict;
use warnings;

my $n = shift;                # assign the number provided as an arguement to  $n
die q{Please provide a positive number.} if ($n < 0); # not negative 
print q{*} x $n;             # print "*" $n times followed by newline (the shebang's -l switch
if ($n >1) { 
	foreach (2 .. $n - 1) {               # print second line .. next to last line
	   print q{*}, q{ } x ($n - 2), q{*}; # with $n-2 spaces (first & last postions are *
    } 
	print "*" x $n ; 
}