sub find {
    1 while $_[0]ne pop;
    $#_+1?(&a(@_),$#_):();
}

my @array=('john','paul','ringo','george', 'ringo');

print &find('john',@array),"\n";      # Returns 0
print &find('ringo',@array),"\n";     # Returns 24
print &find('mick',@array),"\n";      # Returns undef