use vars qw(%friends);

##</code><code>##

sub getFriends { 
  # Initializes my little hash
  our %friends = (Paul => 1, Suzie => 1);
  return %friends;
}

##</code><code>##

use Friends;
my %friends = &getFriends();  # for lexical scope

##</code><code>##

require "outsidefile";
print %friends;

##</code><code>##

#
# guess what? I'm in main's scope !!!
#
%friends = (Paul => 1, Suzie => 1);