Greetings, user786.

I guess I might try something like similar to the following, given your example

my $string = qw(abc) | undef; # for illustration purposes only
unless $string ne "" {
print "found STRING"; } else {
print "string NOT found";}
[download]

Then you can simply change the logic, depending upon the results you desire. You might even want to turn the entire routine into a sub -- OO people would call it an Object. :)

All the best.

--Chris