on your commented out line, try the following 
my $inputValue  = $_[0] || "some default value in case of no argument"
+;

[download]
If there is a chance that your argument won't exist, always set up some kind of error checking or set a default value. the code i've used is a shorter version of an if:else construct.

In reply to Re: Checking for Arguments before Usage? by Anonymous Monk
in thread Checking for Arguments before Usage? by nickcave25

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