>\Perl510\bin\perl5.10.0.exe -MDevel::Peek -wle" $x = 'fred'; Dump( $x ); print substr( $x, 0, 1 )=''; Dump( $x )" SV = PV(0x226f64) at 0x182a19c REFCNT = 1 FLAGS = (POK,pPOK) PV = 0x18305ec "fred"\0 CUR = 4 LEN = 8 SV = PVIV(0x228f40) at 0x182a19c REFCNT = 2 FLAGS = (POK,OOK,pPOK) IV = 1 (OFFSET) PV = 0x18305ed ( "f" . ) "red"\0 CUR = 3 LEN = 7 >\Perl510\bin\perl5.10.0.exe -MDevel::Peek -wle" $x = 'fred'; Dump( $x ); print substr( $x, 0, 1, ''); Dump( $x )" SV = PV(0x226f64) at 0x182a19c REFCNT = 1 FLAGS = (POK,pPOK) PV = 0x18305ec "fred"\0 CUR = 4 LEN = 8 f SV = PVIV(0x228f40) at 0x182a19c REFCNT = 1 FLAGS = (POK,OOK,pPOK) IV = 1 (OFFSET) PV = 0x18305ed ( "f" . ) "red"\0 CUR = 3 LEN = 7