#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;

sub foo {
   local $, = '... ';
   print ('a', 'list', 'of', "things\n");
}

foo();

print "This", "is", "a", "test\n";


##</code><code>##

a... list... of... things
Thisisatest

##</code><code>##

use strict;

# Transform 'local' to 'my', and get rid of needless
# initialization to 'undef'
my $usefuldata = 1;  # in real life, lots of logic here
  
  if ( blah_blah() ) {
   # Eliminated second definition of $usefuldata
   $usefuldata = 2; # in real life, lots of logic here
  }
  insert_into_database($usefuldata)

##</code><code>##

use strict;

# Put all of the $usefuldata stuff in a subroutine
sub get_useful_data
{

  # Eliminated initial assignment of $usefuldata...
  # There's no need to calculate it if blah_blah()
  # is true and we're going to replace the value anyway

  if ( blah_blah() ) {
    # No need to store $usefuldata in a variable...
    # just return it
    return 2;
  }
  else {
    # Since blah_blah() is false, we return the default
    # case
    return 1;
  }
}

# Now we can calculate $usefuldata exactly where we want it
insert_into_database( get_useful_data() )