How do I permute N elements of a list?

    #!/usr/bin/perl -n
    # permute - tchrist@perl.com
    permut([split], []);
    sub permut {
        my @head = @{ $_[0] };
        my @tail = @{ $_[1] };
        unless (@head) {
            # stop recursing when there are no elements in the head
            print "@tail\n";
        } else {
            # for all elements in @head, move one from @head to @tail
            # and call permut() on the new @head and @tail
            my(@newhead,@newtail,$i);
            foreach $i (0 .. $#head) {
                @newhead = @head;
                @newtail = @tail;
                unshift(@newtail, splice(@newhead, $i, 1));
                permut([@newhead], [@newtail]);
            }
        }
    }