You probably require the configfile. That happens during runtime, so the interpreter doesn't know about @fields when compiling the script. Either put the configuration into a perl module you import via use or tell the interpreter you have a variable named @fields. 
**** script.pl ****
#!/usr/bin/perl
use warnings;
use strict;

use vars qw(@fields);
require "conf.pl";
print $fields[0];

**** conf.pl ****
@fields = qw( FOO BAR BAZ );

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hth, snowcrash

In reply to Re: using strict and a config file by snowcrash
in thread using strict and a config file by lex2001

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