The problem is that a list (ie @foo) inside another list (ie @_) gets expanded -- the list items are all there, but no longer enclosed in a distinct list. If @foo = (a, b, c), then your subroutine sees $_[1] as 'a', $_[2] as 'b', etc.

To fix this, you could just print all of the remaining items in @_ inside writeFile, or else you could preserve @file's identity as a distinct list by passing it in as a reference: 

  &writeFile("file.txt", \@file);

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Now, as far as writeFile is concerned, $_[1] contains a reference that points to all of @file, not just the first line. To use this correctly, you must also modify the print statement slightly: 
  print FILE @$_[1];

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'@$_[1]' indicates that the program should access the array or '@' that '$_[1]' is a reference to. It can also be written as @{$_[1]}, if that helps.

See perldoc perlreftut for a references tutorial, not to mention the various O'Reilly books.

-- Frag.

In reply to Re: Passing variables by frag
in thread Passing variables by Stamp_Guy

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