> bits like those variable prefixes ($@%) Perl originated from shell programming and inherited some of its patterns. If you ever looked at a bash script using

> bits like those variable prefixes ($@%) Perl originated from shell programming and inherited some of its patterns. If you ever looked at a bash script using arrays you will immediately recognize "@" to access the array as a whole and the switch to the "$" sigil to access a single element from that array. Perl was designed to make it easy for shell script writers to pick it up.