sub children { return ( 1..5 ); }
my( $end, $subcat );
foreach my $next (  children(), $end  ) {
    if(  ! $end  ) {
        $end= 1;
        $subcat= $next;
        next;
    }
    if(  \$next == \$end  ) {
        print "Last element.\n";
    }

    print $subcat, $/;

    $subcat= $next;
}
__END__
1
2
3
4
Last element.
5