I know that there is a statement about this in one of the perl docs, although I cannot find it now.
From perlsyn:
NOTE: The behaviour of a "my" statement modified with a statement mod
+ifier conditional or loop construct (e.g. "my $x if ...") is undefine
+d. The value of the "my" variable may be "undef", any previously ass
+igned value, or possibly anything else. Don't rely on it. Future ve
+rsions of perl might do something different from the version of perl
+you try it out on. Here be dragons.
So the following:
my $v2 = -2 if 0;
Will have undefined and probably unexp(?:exted|licible) behavior. Don't do it! Don't use a my assignment with a conditional!
Define your variable first, then set it using the conditional.