c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -MO=Deparse,-p -le "my $a = 'a'; my $b = 'b'; 1 ? $a = 2 : $b = 'x'; print qq{a is $a}; print qq{b is $b}; " BEGIN { $^W = 1; } BEGIN { $/ = "\n"; $\ = "\n"; } use strict 'refs'; (my $a = 'a'); (my $b = 'b'); (($a = 2) = 'x'); print("a is $a"); print("b is $b"); -e syntax OK