c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le "our $VAR = 5.0; sub printit { print 'Package ', __PACKAGE__, qq{ VAR=$VAR}; } ;; package A; our $VAR = 2.0; sub printit { print 'Package ', __PACKAGE__, qq{ VAR=$VAR}; } ;; package main; ;; A::printit; printit; main::printit; print 'Package ', __PACKAGE__, qq{ unqualified VAR=$VAR}; print 'Package ', __PACKAGE__, qq{ fully qualified VAR=$main::VAR}; " Package A VAR=2 Package main VAR=5 Package main VAR=5 Package main unqualified VAR=2 Package main fully qualified VAR=5