Q:\>perl -v This is perl, v5.6.1 built for MSWin32-x86-multi-thread (with 1 registered patch, see perl -V for more detail) (snip-snap) Q:\>perl -e "$foo='bar'; use lib $foo; die join ';',@INC" Empty compile time value given to use lib at -e line 1 ;s:/Os/OSP/OSPI/Perl/lib;s:/Os/OSP/OSPI/Perl/site/lib;. at -e line 1. Q:\>perl -e "BEGIN{$foo='bar'; use lib $foo;} die join ';',@INC" Empty compile time value given to use lib at -e line 1 ;s:/Os/OSP/OSPI/Perl/lib;s:/Os/OSP/OSPI/Perl/site/lib;. at -e line 1. Q:\>perl -e "BEGIN{$foo='bar';} use lib $foo; die join ';',@INC" bar;s:/Os/OSP/OSPI/Perl/lib;s:/Os/OSP/OSPI/Perl/site/lib;. at -e line 1. Q:\>perl -e "BEGIN{my $foo='bar'; eval qq{use lib $foo;}};die join ':',@INC" bar:s:/Os/OSP/OSPI/Perl/lib:s:/Os/OSP/OSPI/Perl/site/lib:. at -e line 1.