Hi,
Sorry, but this is not exact. Doing

my ($a,$b) = @_;
[download]

you do not drop anything. Just try this:

sub test1 {
  my ($a) = @_;
  print "\$a = $a\n";
  print "\@_= (",join(",",@_),")\n";
}
sub test2 {
  my $a = shift;
  print "\$a = $a\n";
  print "\@_= (",join(",",@_),")\n";
}

test1(1,2,3,4,5,6,7);
test2(1,2,3,4,5,6,7);
[download]

the call to <emph>test1</emph> prints

$a = 1
@_= (1,2,3,4,5,6,7)
[download]

while the one to <emph>test2</emph> prints:

$a = 1
@_= (2,3,4,5,6,7)
[download]

The basic difference should be obvious from the above examples: assigning @_ does not modify @_ (that is obviously consistent with standard assigement semantics), while using shift physically modify @_ </>

Cheers

---

Leo TheHobbit