D:\temp>perl -MO=Deparse -e "my $b = 1 for 1 .. 10" ; foreach $_ (1 .. 10) { my $b = 1; } -e syntax OK D:\temp> #### P:\test>perl -wl my $a = 'a' x 10; foreach $_ (0 .. 9) my $b .= substr( $a, $_, 10-$_ ) . '-' x $_; } print $main::b; ^Z Use of uninitialized value in print at - line 3.