I thought shift should return the array element, so why do I need to use $_ = shift ... ?
Because the implied $_ = in a while condition only happens for readline aka <>.

Also, with shift you don't get the implied defined() around the while condition; if one if the elements of @letters is "0", the loop will stop early. Try while (defined($_ = shift @letters))

In reply to Re^2: Assigning an array to a scalar by ysth
in thread Assigning an array to a scalar by Anonymous Monk

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