From perldoc perlfunc:
In scalar context, returns the number of fields found and splits into the "@_" array. Use of split in scalar context is deprecated, however, because it clobbers your subroutine arguments.

It's preventing you from possibly shooting yourself in the foot.

For a better method, use the function length() to count the number of characters in a string.

In reply to Re: Mistakenly Believing split is using @_ by lemming
in thread Mistakenly Believing split is using @_ by enoch

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