I'm sorry I confused the issue. My question wasn't "why doesn't while assign a value to $_" but "why doesn't shift?"

Certainly while( <> ) { ... } works as I expected it to. While talking it over with other helpful monks via the Chatterbox, I found that the individual functions will say if they use $_ in their descriptions.

That being said, is there a good reason why shift (for example) doesn't assign a value to $_ unless another variable is explicitly used?

In reply to Re: (elbie) When does $_ get used? by elbie
in thread When does $_ get used? by elbie

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