@x = qw/Foo Bar Blaz/; #@x = qw//; print "Before: @x$/"; while ( my $ele = <@x> ) { next unless $ele; print "$ele becomes "; $ele =~ s/^(.)/x$1/; print $ele . $/; } print "$/After: @x"; __END__ Then I have : Before: Foo Bar Blaz Foo becomes xFoo Bar becomes xBar Blaz becomes xBlaz After: Foo Bar Blaz