I should get a filehandle from the param() call. I do. I can read it all in. If I print the contents of $buffer, they are exactly as I expect. If I print elements of @buffer after the split, they are as I expect. As I mentioned, if my prints are all inside the no strict; block, they function as expected. It's just as if the data doesn't exist outside the block (which, I think, it doesn't).

It "almost works" as in, if i stopped use strict;ing, it would probably all work.