Please don't consider using m!^__(?:END|DATA)__$! for documentation purposes. POD I tell you, POD. That's what it is for: Plain Old Documentation! Throwing together information at the end of the script is just as bad, if not worse, than using comments. And comments in gross (pun intended) quantities are horrendous. Besides, typing perldoc ScriptName.pl is a heck of a lot easier than scrounging through a file looking for comments or documentation stuffed in in a DATA clause.