You can have a look in $ENV{QUERY_STRING} - but really, save yourself and anybody else involved a lot of time and trouble in the future and get over the notion that CPAN modules are "overweight" or bad in any way. You are just hurting yourself, though I understand that you think you are "optimizing".

Quick update: That might be $ENV{REDIRECT_QUERY_STRING} since it is in effect, a redirect. Needless to say, CGI.pm handles both behind the scenes so you don't need to worry about it. See?

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You have moved into a dark place.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.