davorg is, of course, correct.

I just wanted to add my generic advice that you shouldn't use prototypes unless you get in a position where you need them. I made the same mistake as you early on, finding function prototypes in perldoc, and thinking I should use them everywhere. I have since revisited my old code and removed all the prototypes.

They're indispensable when you need them, and a real irritant when you don't. If you don't know when you need them, then you don't need them.

*Woof*