It looks like you apply the test to an open filehandle and then try unlinking with the same handle. Unlinking should be done on the filename. The -z test should be done after the filehandle is closed to ensure all data is written. Unlinking an open file is Not Good. This is better: 

# assumes the file is named in a variable $badsyms.
# $badsyms  would best be an absolute path.
#
# close(BADSYMS); before this, otherwise writes may not be
# flushed before the test.
# That would give a false positive

if ( -z $badsyms ) {
    unlink $badsyms or die "Cannot unlink $badsyms: $!";
}
else {
    print "Bad symbols contained in $badsyms\n";
}

[download]
It would be helpful to see what kind of loop this is in and how the filenames are obtained. I may have misunderstood what you are doing.

.

Update: Added death on error.

Update2: Re AM's followup The BADSYMS filehandle is already closed. Replace with "BADSYMS.out" in the -z test.

After Compline,
Zaxo

In reply to Re: -z file test operator by Zaxo
in thread -z file test operator by Anonymous Monk

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.