well yes, each magic exception is different, look at chop (LIST) , which has no prototype.

> look at threads like Prototype like sort()?

But sort has no prototype, that's my point.

> All of eof's syntax can be replicated, but not its functionality.

well your link to tie made me thinking ...

I remember that overriding say or print was only possible by tieing the connected file-handles, so maybe eof IS fully overridable in the end, thanks to that extra magic.

I'll try tomorrow.

> but I think you should cut the authors some slack :-)

One of the reasons why Perl is now so unpopular in academia are surprising and frustrating exceptions. Clarifying and rectifying such things would help to make Perl more orthogonal and acceptable.