in reply to else statement not being executed

Empty string is defined. Check length or even looks_like_number from Scalar::Util.
لսႽ† ᥲᥒ⚪⟊Ⴙᘓᖇ Ꮅᘓᖇ⎱ Ⴙᥲ𝇋ƙᘓᖇ

In Section Seekers of Perl Wisdom