perldoc -f chomp returns:

  chomp VARIABLE
  chomp( LIST )
  chomp   
     This safer version of "chop" removes any trailing string that
     corresponds to the current value of $/ (also known as
     $INPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR in the "English" module). It returns
     the total number of characters removed from all its arguments.
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Your code didn't work because of the following statement: It returns the total number of characters removed from all its arguments..

/oliver/