You could just always end the line with a comma. That often leads to code that is easier to maintain anyway.

But the comma is required (whether at the end of the line or not) if it is needed to separate two items. So you don't need a comma before a closing ) or }, for example, but you can put one there if it would be convient (especially if future changes to the code might lead you to add additional items after that line).

If you do include a "trailing" comma, then you should also move the closing bracket to the next line:

table(
    {
        -bgcolor     => "#000000",
        -border      => "0",
        -cellpadding => "2",
        -cellspacing => "1",
        -style       => "font: 10pt;",
    },
    Tr(
        {
            -style => "background-color:#CCCCCC" },
            td( strong( "User Name:" ) ),
            td( input( {
                -maxlength => "30",
                -name      => "username",
                -size      => "30",
                -type      => "text",
            } ) ),
        },
    ), # end Tr
);
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Note how in my code above, you can insert, delete or rearrange items in any of the lists by inserting, deleting, or rearranging lines without having to adjust opening or closing brackets or commas. That is usually a good thing.

What an unusual thing to want to do! :P

No seriously, the reason you can't stop printing etc, without printing data etc, is that when you call table() the table is closed where that close parentheses is. You can't leave the parentheses hanging open because that is a syntax error. So you can do this:

    print table();
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    print table(;
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use CGI qw/:standard start_table end_table/;
                 # actually you can do:
                 # use CGI qw/:standard *table/; too I think.

print start_table;

        # make some table data 

print end_table;
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