Typically, one of the following is used to break out of a loop or to move onto the next item in a loop.

• last (break out of a loop)
• next (move onto next item in a loop)
• return (break out of a subroutine)

last is used to break out of a loop, whereas return is used to break out of a subroutine.

Let's say you have the following script.

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;

my @fruits = qw(Apple Orange Banana Grape);

foreach my $fruit (@fruits) {
  print "$fruit \n";
}

Running this script will return the following. Each value in the array was returned.

Apple Orange Banana Grape

In this example, last is placed inside of the loop.

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;

my @fruits = qw(Apple Orange Banana Grape);

foreach my $fruit (@fruits) {
  print "$fruit \n";
  last;
}

Now only the first value in the array is printed.

Apple