What part of the documentation leads you to believe that END {} executes at compile-time? From what I read in perlman:perlmod,

An END subroutine is executed as late as possible, 
that is, when the interpreter is being exited, 
even if it is exiting as a result of a die() function. 

In your first test case (where you don't specify a file name), you seem to think that END {} was executed at compile-time. In fact, it's executing at the end of run-time, after you call the die() command. It seems straightforward to me, or am I confused about what you mean?

Update:Ah, thanks as always, tye.

buckaduck