#!perl -w use strict; use Data::Dumper; my @someNameArray = qw(foo bar baz); print Dumper \@someNameArray; for(@someNameArray){ print( "Before: $_\n" );# $_ correct frobnicate($_); print( "After : $_\n" );# $_ changed } print "Final:\n"; print Dumper \@someNameArray; sub frobnicate { $_[0] = "changed value from '$_[0]'"; }; __END__ $VAR1 = [ 'foo', 'bar', 'baz' ]; Before: foo After : changed value from 'foo' Before: bar After : changed value from 'bar' Before: baz After : changed value from 'baz' Final: $VAR1 = [ 'changed value from \'foo\'', 'changed value from \'bar\'', 'changed value from \'baz\'' ];