>perl # 5.8.4 use strict; use warnings; my $x=""; foo( substr($x,2,1) ); # crashes here print "Alive!\n"; # not reached sub foo {} ^Z substr outside of string at - line 4. >c:\perl561\bin\perl5.6.1.exe use strict; use warnings; my $x=""; foo( substr($x,2,1) ); # crashes here print "Alive!\n"; # not reached sub foo {} ^Z substr outside of string at - line 4.