So I've no idea why, but assignment to a scalar variable seems to change some lvalues.

To wit, warning the return of a particular sub yields a different warning that assigning that value to a scalar and warning that scalar. I cannot fathom why.

Any ideas?

#!/usr/bin/perl

###=- Unpack Vector Weirdness

use strict; 

sub string { 
    return (reverse (unpack ('b8', $_[0])))
}

sub showoff { 
    my $vec = shift;
    my $str; 
    
      warn 'vvv';
      warn string($vec);
      warn ($str = string($vec));
      warn '^^^';
} 

for my $pass (0..7) { 
    my $vec = int(rand(200));
    showoff $vec;
}
[download]

thanks,
Vynce
.

update:
yes, i know return (unpack ('B8', $_[0])) does what i want, but my question is why the original doesn't.