in reply to Mystery character in hash key name

Did you forget to use strict; use warnings;?
You should have been notified that $LaL is not declared or defined.

You are setting @LaL with the split, but then printing the completely unrelated variable $LaL.

- SJ

How to make perldoc.perl.org resizable too!
The monks can fry your fish, and they can give you some tips and some bait, but you still need to wake up in the morning and climb onto the boat.