#!/usr/bin/perl

bu("a:b:c:d");

sub bu {
   local $" = '], [';

   print "scalar: ", scalar(split(/:/, $_[0])), "\n";
   print scalar(@_), "[@_]\n";
   print "scalar: ", scalar(split(/:/, $_[0])), "\n";
   print scalar(@_), "[@_]\n";
   print "scalar: ", scalar(split(/:/, $_[0])), "\n";
   print scalar(@_), "[@_]\n";
} ## end sub bu
__END__
scalar: 4
4[a], [b], [c], [d]
scalar: 1
1[@]
scalar: 1
1[�]