You could do this...

my $ns = '';
my @a = qw(one two 3 $ns five);
s/(\$.*)/$1/ee foreach @a;
[download]

andy. Update:

Come to think of it, this seems neat & simple...

my @a = grep {s/^''$//;1} qw(one two 3 '' four five);
[download]

Do I get the prize? What was the prize, anyway? Hope it's ice-cream...