And what is

  close ARGV if eof;
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supposed to be doing? Is there a file handle named ARGV that you opened previously? If so, that's the not the right way to test for eof.

The answer is yes, there is a file handle named ARGV. And IMO, the use of eof is the right way to test for eof. Here's a quote from perldoc -f eof:

               In a "while (<>)" loop, "eof" or "eof(ARGV)" can
               be used to detect the end of each file, "eof()"
               will only detect the end of the last file.
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Now, it's possible that eof in the previous line is used in a wrong way:

close FH if eof;
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but since the code fragment omits any other use of FH, it's hard to say.

Abigail