you suggested : 
$date = substr($date,0,(length($date)-1)); # remove last char

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It's worth noting that perl uses negative numbers to "count backwards" when dealing with string (and array, and probably many other surprising things) indexes, removing the need to do things like length($date)-1)). Code looks nicer and scans better for the effort.
See Piercer's code below.

Update : Wouldn't it be nice if push, pop and (un)shift worked on characters in a string? Yes, there's chop. that's true enough, but still.

In reply to Perl that moves. by boo_radley
in thread last character in string ? by rimmern

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