my @files = find( file    =>
                  'name' => [  ],
                  size    => '',
                  in      => $directory  );
                 # @output="@files.zip";
                  my @status = zip @files => @output
                   or die "zip failed: $ZipError\n";
[download]

for my $src (@files) {
    my $status = zip $src => "${src}.zip"
        or die "zip failed: $ZipError\n";
}

# And, if you're confident
unlink @files;
[download]

You cannot just arbitrarily throw arrays into subroutines which explicitly require scalar arguments and expect it to work.

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