> Maybe I should have posted it with strict & warnings included, and asked why I'm getting the errors

Yes!

Even more important, read and understand the basic Perl documentation for the functions you are using. If your program does not behave the way the Perl documentation says it should, mention that in your question. For example, the Perl documentation for split says this, yet I am seeing that. (Based on your question, I don't see how you could have read and understood the documentation for split).

In summary, please read and attempt to understand the Perl documentation and test your code with strict and warnings before posting.