#print first letter of Hebrew alphabet (aleph)
my $ch=chr(0x5D0); print STDERR "$ch\n";

##</code><code>##

   Debian (Lenny)
   system perl (5.10.0)
   xterm version: XTerm(235)
   bash: GNU bash, version 3.2.39(1)-release (i486-pc-linux-gnu)

##</code><code>##

use strict;
use warnings;
use PerlIO;
use Devel::Peek;

my $ch=chr(0x5D0);
Devel::Peek::Dump($ch);

binmode(STDERR);
print STDERR "layers for STDERR: @{[PerlIO::get_layers(STDERR)]}\n";
print STDERR "$ch\n";  #complains about wide character

binmode(STDERR, ":utf8");
print STDERR "layers for STDERR: @{[PerlIO::get_layers(STDERR)]}\n";
print STDERR "$ch\n";  # no complaints here

print STDERR "I survived :-) !!!\n";
print STDOUT "I really did. I really did.\n";

# End blocks to help verify that STDERR output is being
# truncated, and script is not merely aborting
END { warn "Ah...dead\n"; }
END { warn "I'm dying :-( \n" }

##</code><code>##

SV = PV(0x817c6d0) at 0x8197e90
  REFCNT = 1
  FLAGS = (PADMY,POK,pPOK,UTF8)
  PV = 0x819e970 "\327\220"\0 [UTF8 "\x{5d0}"]
  CUR = 2
  LEN = 4
layers for STDERR: unix perlio
Wide character in print at Monks/Foo.pm line 916.
\220א
layers for STDERR: unix perlio utf8
\220א
I survived :-) !!!
I really did. I really did.
I'm dying :-( 
Ah...dead

##</code><code>##

SV = PV(0x817c6d0) at 0x8197e90
  REFCNT = 1
  FLAGS = (PADMY,POK,pPOK,UTF8)
  PV = 0x819e970 "\327\220"\0 [UTF8 "\x{5d0}"]
  CUR = 2
  LEN = 4
layers for STDERR: unix perlio
Wide character in print at Monks/Foo.pm line 916.
��
layers for STDERR: unix perlio utf8
�
I survived :-) !!!
I really did. I really did.
I'm dying :-( 
Ah...dead

##</code><code>##

$ perl myscript.pl
SV = PV(0x817c6d0) at 0x8197e90
  REFCNT = 1
  FLAGS = (PADMY,POK,pPOK,UTF8)
  PV = 0x81a2560 "\327\220"\0 [UTF8 "\x{5d0}"]
  CUR = 2
  LEN = 4
layers for STDERR: unix perlio
Wide character in print at Monks/Foo.pm line 916.
$ 

##</code><code>##

$ perl myscript.pl
SV = PV(0x817c6d0) at 0x8197e90
  REFCNT = 1
  FLAGS = (PADMY,POK,pPOK,UTF8)
  PV = 0x819f610 "\327\220"\0 [UTF8 "\x{5d0}"]
  CUR = 2
  LEN = 4
layers for STDERR: unix perlio utf8
$