c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le "use Data::Dump qw(dd); ;; sub S_ { my %h = @_; dd \%h; } sub Sh (%) { my %h = @_; dd \%h; } sub Sa (@) { my %h = @_; dd \%h; } ;; S_(qw(a b c)); Sh(qw(a b c)); Sa(qw(a b c)); " Odd number of elements in hash assignment at -e line 1. { a => "b", c => undef } Odd number of elements in hash assignment at -e line 1. { a => "b", c => undef } Odd number of elements in hash assignment at -e line 1. { a => "b", c => undef }