you had the right idea, but better replace $_ with undef

from perlfunc#my-VARLIST

Note that with a parenthesised list, undef can be used as a dummy placeholder, for example to skip assignment of initial values: 
my ( undef, $min, $hour ) = localtime;

[download]

you can always use undef on the left-hand-side to ignore assignments.

Cheers Rolf
(addicted to the Perl Programming Language :)
Wikisyntax for the Monastery

In reply to Re^3: how can I get localtime without mutating any variables by LanX
in thread how can I get localtime without mutating any variables by thirtySeven

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