C:\test>perl -le"use constant DEBUG=>0; print 'hi'; DEBUG and print 'debugging'; print 'bye'" hi bye C:\test>perl -MO=Deparse -le"use constant DEBUG=>0; print 'hi'; DEBUG and print 'debugging'; print 'bye'" BEGIN { $/ = "\n"; $\ = "\n"; } use constant ('DEBUG', 0); print 'hi'; '???'; print 'bye'; -e syntax OK