The one embedded in the source code is an octal number string literal to Perl. The other is a string to Perl, as it comes from @ARGV.

If you want to treat incoming parameters as octal, see the oct function.

Updated: s/number string/number literal/, suggested by LanX

In reply to Re^3: octal number mysteriously changes after pass to subroutine by Corion
in thread octal number mysteriously changes after pass to subroutine by Anonymous Monk

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