split says:

When assigning to a list, if LIMIT is omitted, or zero, Perl supplies a LIMIT one larger than the number of variables in the list,

So while @arr = split gets a LIMIT of 0 (and stripping of trailing null fields), ($x, $y) = split gets a LIMIT of 3 (and no such stripping).

Another special case — potentially (as you, um, realized) surprising — but at least documented.

print "Just another Perl ${\(trickster and hacker)},"
The Sidhekin proves Sidhe did it!

In reply to Re^4: undef vs empty string '' from split by Sidhekin
in thread undef vs empty string '' from split by chrism01

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