Either I am a complete idiot (highly possible) or there is something quirky going on (less possible).

I run the code again, and I get the print out of $@ as expected. In the same log, only a few lines above, I can see where it wasn't printing out.

I could have swore that I didn't make any changes since I was getting the error, but perhaps I just did.

I am going to keep an eye on the code and its output and keep running tests with it. Thanks to everyone for trying to help.

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a complete idiot
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Jeremiah 49:32 - And their camels shall be a booty. . .