($value) = $query->param(‘foo’);

You’ll get the param output as an array, where it will put the first value in the list into $value.

Actually, the scalar( $x = param() ) is overkill. Assigning ‘param()’ to a scalar already forces a scalar context. So

$self->send_TXT_email(scalar(CGI::param(”rep_no”)),$rep_object,$subject,$user_ref);

or

$self->send_TXT_email(($rep_no=CGI::param(”rep_no”)),$rep_object,$subject,$user_ref);

or even

$self->send_TXT_email(''.CGI::param(”rep_no”),$rep_object,$subject,$user_ref);

would work just fine. Although splitting it in two statements, like John did, is a more readable way of doing it.

Would this also do it?
$self->send_TXT_email(scalar($rep_no=CGT::param(“rep_no”)),$rep_object,$subject,$user_ref);