thats wild that it doesnt even need test_2() called. I tried it and it did work, but why does it work even when test_2() isnt called? I will more than likely use this, otherwise I will have to change up abunch of code.
EDIT: i found another problem as well ;) I also am converting the data to its hex equivalent with unpack('H*', ()).

Why does this fail:

push @test_2_data, unpack('H*', (test_2( $test ))) for 1 .. 4;
print $_ for(@test_2_data);
[download]

And this works:

push @test_2_data, test_2( $test ) for 1 .. 4;

for(@test_2_data){
    $_ = unpack('H*', $_);
}

print $_ for(@test_2_data);
[download]