$ perl -wle " print +foo" Unquoted string "foo" may clash with future reserved word at -e line 1. Name "main::foo" used only once: possible typo at -e line 1. print() on unopened filehandle foo at -e line 1. $ perl -wle " print -+foo" Unquoted string "foo" may clash with future reserved word at -e line 1. -foo $ perl -wle " print -'+foo'" -foo $ perl -wle " print -(-foo)" +foo