That's because the array contains one value : 'undef' .
That looks like a string with the text "undef" to me. That's not what the array contains. Instead, it holds an undefined scalar value.

Look at what happens if you do : 
sub test { return () ; }

[download]

Lo and behold, it works!

Still, testing definedness of an array is a very bad idea. Try running this code first: 

@a = qw(a b c);

[download]
and now you'll see, the array will be defined (and empty).

Don't. Do. It.

Definedness of an array is nothing a newbie should ever be concerned about.

In reply to Re^2: if (defined @arr) problem by bart
in thread if (defined @arr) problem by jeanluca

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.