c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -MO=Deparse,-p -le "use constant DEBUG => 1; ;; DEBUG and debugIt(); ;; sub debugIt { print 'debugging it'; } " BEGIN { $^W = 1; } BEGIN { $/ = "\n"; $\ = "\n"; } use constant ('DEBUG', 1); use strict 'refs'; debugIt(); sub debugIt { use strict 'refs'; print('debugging it'); } -e syntax OK c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -MO=Deparse,-p -le "use constant DEBUG => 0; ;; DEBUG and debugIt(); ;; sub debugIt { print 'debugging it'; } " BEGIN { $^W = 1; } BEGIN { $/ = "\n"; $\ = "\n"; } use constant ('DEBUG', 0); use strict 'refs'; '???'; sub debugIt { use strict 'refs'; print('debugging it'); } -e syntax OK