Maybe it is an option for you to localise the $[ like so? 
!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;

package LocalBlock;
{ # localisation scope
  local $[ = 1;

  sub test {   # now a closure
    print "(\$[= $[) array has " . scalar @_ . 
          " elements, last index = $#_ (", 
          join(", ", @_) , ")\n";
  }
} # end of scope
1;

package main;

print "Pre:  \$\[ = $[ \n";
LocalBlock::test(1,2,3,4);
print "Post: \$\[ = $[ \n\n";

$[ = 5;
print "Pre:  \$\[ = $[ \n";
LocalBlock::test(5,6,7,8);
print "Post: \$\[ = $[ \n\n";

__END__
Pre:  $[ = 0
($[= 1) array has 4 elements, last index = 4 (1, 2, 3, 4)
Post: $[ = 0

Pre:  $[ = 5
($[= 1) array has 4 elements, last index = 4 (5, 6, 7, 8)
Post: $[ = 5

[download]
Cannot test it without 5.10 here, sorry.

In reply to Re: fun with $[ by Perlbotics
in thread fun with $[ by rolfy

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.