use Data::Dump ; dd\%Encode::Encoding; for my $enc ( qw/ :rot13 :ROT13 :encoding(rot13) :encoding(ROT13) :UTF-7 :encoding(UTF-7) :via(ROT13) :via(Encode::ROT13) / ) { fudge( $enc ); } dd\%Encode::Encoding; our $tell; sub fudge { my( $layer ) = @_; $tell ||= tell DATA; seek DATA, $tell, 0; print "## binmode DATA, $layer \n"; binmode DATA, $layer; dd []; } __DATA__ Apple cat dog strawberry watermelon