Looks like old perldeltas confirm your assertion:

http://search.cpan.org/dist/perl-5.6.0/pod/perldelta.pod#File_and_directory_handles_can_be_autovivified

http://search.cpan.org/dist/perl-5.6.0/pod/perldelta.pod#open%28%29_with_more_than_two_arguments

Symbol was already CORE in the earliest version I could easily track down the docs for (5.003_7). Raises the question of where the OP got his version string; perhaps he'll be kind enough to post the output of perl -e 'print "$]\n"'.

#11929 First ask yourself `How would I do this without a computer?' Then have the computer do it the same way.

In reply to Re^5: Undefined value as a symbol reference by kennethk
in thread Undefined value as a symbol reference by link867

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