in reply to How do I check if a scalar in @_ is writable?

Try/catch with eval would work but I don't really see why you need to operate on $_[0] ..... 

eval{$_[0] ||= 'blah'}
if ( $@ ) {
    # handle exception....
    print "blech!\n";
}
# else .....

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cheers

tachyon

s&&rsenoyhcatreve&&&s&n.+t&"$'$`$\"$\&"&ee&&y&srve&&d&&print

In Section Seekers of Perl Wisdom