c:\@Work\Perl>perl -wMstrict -MO=Deparse,-p -le "my %opts = (c => 1); my $C = exists $opts{'c'} ? '!' : ''; " BEGIN { $^W = 1; } BEGIN { $/ = "\n"; $\ = "\n"; } use strict 'refs'; (my(%opts) = ('c', 1)); (my $C = (exists($opts{'c'}) ? '!' : '')); -e syntax OK