Assuming the input is a list of stock symbols with one symbol per line :

symbols.txt

FORM
IDTI
ONNN
CHRT
  .
  .

[download]
test.plx 
while (<STDIN>) {
    chomp;
    print STDERR $_ . " is the symbol\n";

}

$ cat symbols.txt | ./test.plx
 is the symbol
 is the symbol
 is the symbol
 is the symbol
  .
  .

while (<STDIN>) {
    #chomp;
    print STDERR $_ . " is the symbol\n";

}

$ cat symbols.txt | ./test.plx
FORM
 is the symbol
IDTI
 is the symbol
ONNN
 is the symbol
CHRT
 is the symbol
ADI
  .
  .

[download]
Chomp seems to affect $_ such that whenever I try to concatenate something to right of $_ (eg $_ . "somestring") the result is the right string overwrites the first characters on the left. Concatenations to the left of $_ work.
I am running :
Win XP Professional
perl, v5.8.7 built for cygwin-thread-multi-64int

In reply to chomp problem by piranhas

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