# explicit
    my $str = 'Just another perl hacker';
    print trim($str, 4); # 'Just'

    # implicit
    $_ = 'Just another perl hacker';
    print trim(undef, 4); # 'Just'

##</code><code>##

    # $_ is set somewhere else to a value, e.g. through readline().
    # The user programs a bug and $foo is unexpectedly still undef.
    print trim($foo, 4); # is expected to operate on $foo, but
                    # really returns the first 4 characters of $_

##</code><code>##

    substr 'Just another substr', 0, 4; # 'Just'

##</code><code>##

    # string based
    my $str = 'Just another index+substr';
    substr $str, 0, index $str, 'a'; # 'Just '

    # regex based
    my $pattern = qr/o/;
    'Just another zero-width positive look-behind'
        =~ s/\K$pattern.*//; # 'Just an'

##</code><code>##

    @info = dismantle $str;

##</code><code>##

    my $length = shift @info;
    # now do something with $length
    # now do something with the remaining array of characters

##</code><code>##

    my @elements = split //, 'Just another split on empty regex';
    my $length = scalar @elements; # or here, just @elements

##</code><code>##

    use parent qw(Exporter);
    our @EXPORT_OK = qw(
        trim strim dismantle
    );

##</code><code>##

    use String::Iota qw(trim strim dismantle);
    my $str = 'Just another perl hacker';
    print trim($str, 4);    # 'Just'
    print strim($str, 'p'); # 'Just another '
    @info = dismantle($str);
    print join q{, }, @info;
    # '24, J, u, s, t,  , a, n, o, t, h, e, r,  , p, e, r, l,  , h, a, c, k, e, r'

    {
        open my $fh, '<', 'test.txt';
        while (<$fh>) {
            trim($_, 40);    # Trim every line of test.txt to 40 characters
            strim($_, q{#}); # Get rid of comments
        }
    }

##</code><code>##

    =head3 trim

    C<< trim(I<$string>, I<$num>) >>

    Trims a string to a certain length, specified by $num.