>perl -MData::Dumper -e "$_=qq(1\n2\n3); print Dumper split /\n/,$_,-1"
$VAR1 = '1';
$VAR2 = '2';
$VAR3 = '3';

>perl -MData::Dumper -e "$_=qq(1\n2\n3\n); print Dumper split /\n/,$_,-1"
$VAR1 = '1';
$VAR2 = '2';
$VAR3 = '3';
$VAR4 = '';