You appear to be updating your reply significantly without noting the updates

Yes, I do that relatively frequently on non-root nodes within the first couple minutes of their existence. In this case –

I find it telling that when your update added an actual use of "x!!", you went and removed your use of "and" to avoid demonstrating this weakness in your idiom.

– it was to remove easy ways of just using split unconditionally, as in your ( split /:/, $path || '' ) suggestion.

Grmf.

Makeshifts last the longest.