I think the problem is that when you use shift, you're trying to alter its argument, which you can't alter (I haven't tried that particular maneuver, but I imagine it's the same error I get from pop=~s/foo/bar/). The solution is pretty simple, though: treat the split return as a list (I believe this is one of those cases where the difference between a list and an array matters), which you can index things out of, like so: 

my $first = (split//,$string)[0];

[download]

Note that if you want to use this as the first argument to a list operator (such as print), you need to do something to keep it from interpreting (split //, $string) as the arguments to the list operator (using the "if it looks like a function" rule), and complaining that you can't take an index out of print (can you tell I'm familiar with the error messages? ;-) : 
print +(split//,$string)[4];

[download]


If God had meant us to fly, he would *never* have given us the railroads.
    --Michael Flanders

In reply to Re: How can I use the the return value of split without assigning? by ChemBoy
in thread How can I use the the return value of split without assigning? by Anonymous Monk

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