$VAR1 = [
          '',
',        'Test MMA <------------------THIS LINE HERE
          '/dir/internal_stuff
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that is typical of a string with chr 13 at the end. I had in the back of my mind that Mac OS used chr 13 as an end of line character, hence my question about which OS you used. You replied unix (chr 10 at EOL). Your string's got chr 13. Windows uses chr 13 + chr 10, which, when chomped on NIX, would give you the string you had.