I am going to assume you are doing something more interesting than this - my perl5.005_03 debugger stops and waits for input before continuing.

In a broader answer though, it is good to remember that the debugger has complete access to all of your namespaces. Try something like this:

1. set a break point to the line immediately after the assignment. In the case you have given, you would set the break point to line 3.
2. Continue execution.
3. When the debugger stops, simply type in the assignment like this: $invest = "nothing\n"; It is important ( translation: this has bitten me so many times I can remember it now ) to remember then line you have stopped on ( chomp $invest in this case ) hasn't executed yet.
4. Continue your debugging.

I am curious to know which debugger you are using and version number - it seems it is kinda broken.

Mik
Mik Firestone ( perlus bigotus maximus )