C:\>perl -Mwarnings=FATAL,all -e"print 1 if shift == shift" foo foo Argument "foo" isn't numeric in numeric eq (==) at -e line 1. C:\>perl -we"print 1 if shift == shift" foo foo Argument "foo" isn't numeric in numeric eq (==) at -e line 1. Argument "foo" isn't numeric in numeric eq (==) at -e line 1. 1