Second question: I'd suspect it's the same reason that we'd need to include spaces to distinquish between function names and their args in golf: the perl script parser is looking for groupings of /[a-zA-Z1-90_]*/. First, note that perlop says that any symbol used at the ends of the regex can have an option space between the m and the delimiter, save for '#' (for obvious reasons). So "m/test/" and "m /test/" will work the same. Second, a quick test with "m_nip_" and "m _nip_" shows that these two act very diffently, while any other symbol appears to act normally. So if what it sees could work out to a 'word' in the perl sense as given by the regex above, it's grouped into a single 'word' and used whatever way that makes sense. On the other hand, any symbol breaks that word up, and perl can now recongize the 'm' and the rest of the regex alone.

-----------------------------------------------------
Dr. Michael K. Neylon - mneylon-pm@masemware.com || "You've left the lens cap of your mind on again, Pinky" - The Brain
"I can see my house from here!"
It's not what you know, but knowing how to find it if you don't know that's important