$ perl -MTime::Piece -le 'print prototype("CORE::localtime"); print prototype("Time::Piece::localtime")//"undef"' ;$ undef $ perl -MO=Deparse -e 'my $x = localtime; my $y = localtime - $x; print "$y\n"; ' Warning: Use of "localtime" without parentheses is ambiguous at -e line 1. my $x = localtime; my $y = localtime -$x; print "$y\n"; -e syntax OK $ perl -MO=Deparse -e 'use Time::Piece; my $x = localtime; my $y = localtime() - $x; print "$y\n"; ' use Time::Piece; my $x = main::localtime(); my $y = main::localtime() - $x; print "$y\n"; $ perl -MO=Deparse -e 'use Time::Piece; my $x = localtime; my $y = (localtime) - $x; print "$y\n"; ' use Time::Piece; my $x = main::localtime(); my $y = main::localtime() - $x; print "$y\n"; $ perl -MO=Deparse -e 'use Time::Piece; my $x = localtime; my $y = localtime - $x; print "$y\n"; ' use Time::Piece; my $x = main::localtime(); my $y = main::localtime(-$x); print "$y\n";