Split a string into its individual characters

split_string_into_characters.pl

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;

#########################################################################
#  Script:  characters.pl
#  Author:  Jefferson Kirkland
#  Date:    December 11, 2007
#
#  Description:  This script takes a phrase, with or without spaces, and
#  prints it out, one character at a time with each character on its own
#  line.
#
#  Why does this code work?  Here is the explanation from the perldoc
#  page:
#
#  A pattern matching the null string (not to be confused with a null
#  pattern // , which is just one member of the set of patterns matching
#  a null string) will split the value of EXPR into separate characters
#  at each point it matches that way.
#  (From: http://perldoc.perl.org/functions/split.html)
#
#  Copyright:  Jefferson Kirkland, ParsedContent Solutions
#########################################################################

my $phrase = "pure flipping magic";

my @array = split(/ */, $phrase);

foreach my $char (@array)
{
    print("$char\n");
}