First off, unless I'm mistaken split returns the number of split elements when called in a scalar context ($foo=split...) instead of in an array contest (@a=split....)
If I understand your new explanation properly, what you want to do is remove trailing periods from words without affectin "internal" periods (periods that are preceeded and followed by a letter). Is that correct?
Les Howard
www.lesandchris.com
Author of Net::Syslog and Number::Spell