Here's an idea that may or may not suit your needs. If you have a Windows PC, grab a Perl IDE such as OptiPerl If your Perl script runs on Windows, start the debugger and begin stepping through your code. You can inspect your variables by hovering over them with the mouse pointer, or be setting up watches. If your code runs on UNIX then you can debug remotely from your PC (see the help file).

OptiPerl is not free. I do not know if the demo version has debugging enabled, but it's ideal for novices, and reasonably inexpensive for non-commercial use.

Update: Looks like Popcorn Dave has has given you a better alternative while I was typing my reply...