@things = 'a'..'z';
print "#things", $/;
print "@things", $/;

$by = 5;
print "#by", $/;
print "$by", $/;

@extra = ('.') x $by - 1;

print "#extra", $/;
print "@extra", $/;

@padded_things = (@things, @extra);
print "#padded_things", $/;
print "@padded_things", $/;

print "#chunked", $/;
while ( (@chunk = splice @padded_things, 0, $by) == $by ) {
	print "@chunk", $/;
}