Another possibility is, and I say this also to frankus below, to set the limit to -1. From perlfunc (5.6):

               into fewer).  If LIMIT is unspecified or zero,
               trailing null fields are stripped (which potential
               users of `pop' would do well to remember).  If
               LIMIT is negative, it is treated as if an
               arbitrarily large LIMIT had been specified.
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In other words, -1 would allow you to fetch any empty field, regardless of the number of fields, regardless of the placing of these fields (trailing are normally neglected, heading not).

Oh yeah, for the supersplit fans among you, this behaviour can be achieved by adding the number to your argument list. Neat, isn't it?

Hope this helps,

Jeroen
"We are not alone"(FZ)