$ perl -wE'for ($|) { local $_; $_ = "abc"; say; }' Argument "abc" isn't numeric in scalar assignment at -e line 1. 0 #### $ perl -E'$_="x"; @_=(4,5); say $_,@_; local *_; say $_,@_;' x45 #### $ perl -E'$_="x"; @_=(4,5); say $_,@_; local *_ = \my $a; say $_,@_;' x45 45