Win8 Strawberry 5.8.9.5 (32) Tue 01/26/2021 21:06:54 C:\@Work\Perl\monks >perl -Mstrict -Mwarnings my $dbh = # connectpgdb(*,*,*,*,*) # syntax error # connectpgdb(*,*,*,*,*)) # syntax error # connectpgdb(*,*,) # syntax error # connectpgdb(*) # syntax error # connectpgdb(*,) # compiles and runs connectpgdb(*)) # compiles and runs ; while ($dbh) { print "foo \n"; $dbh = ''; } sub connectpgdb { return $_[0]; } ^Z foo