It may be interesting to note how reference count grows. Here's an example of reference counts to the scalar
$a, with explanation in comments:
use Devel::Peek qw(SvREFCNT);
my $a = 9; # 1 = $a is an SV of an IV with refcnt of
+ 1
warn SvREFCNT($a), "\n";
my $b = \$a; # 2 = (anonymous) scalar ref maintained b
+y $b
warn SvREFCNT($a), "\n";
my $d = my $c = $b; # 4 = two more ref copies made
warn SvREFCNT($a), "\n";
my $f = my $e = \$b; # 4 = $a unaffected by references _to_ $b
warn SvREFCNT($a), "\n";
my $g = [ $a ]; # 4 = copy of value $a in array
warn SvREFCNT($a), "\n";
my $h = [ $c ]; # 5 = copy of ref to $a in array
warn SvREFCNT($a), "\n";
my $i = sub { $b, $c, $e }; # 5 = $a unaffected by closure over _refs
+_ to $a
warn SvREFCNT($a), "\n";
my $j = sub { $a, $a, $a }; # 6 = closure over actual lexical $a
warn SvREFCNT($a), "\n";
undef $_ for $b, $c, $d, $h, $j; # 1 = kill all refcnt contributors (
+except for $a itelf)
warn SvREFCNT($a), "\n";