use strict; package foo; our $bar = 1; # at this point, using $bar could mean TWO things: # 1) try to access the global $foo::bar # 2) try to access the alias named $bar for $foo::bar # The lexical (second) one wins in perl, so you don't # get a use strict error print $bar; package baz; # Now $bar could mean: # 1) try to access the global $baz::bar # 2) try to access the alias named $bar for $foo::bar # The lexical (second) one still wins. print $bar; # works, prints $foo::bar even though we are in baz #### use strict; package foo; use vars qw/$bar/; $bar = 1; # $bar has only one meaning, access $foo::bar print $bar; package baz; # $bar has only one meaning, access $baz::bar print $bar; #error #### package foo; print $bar; # prints the global $foo::bar package baz; print $bar; # prints the global $baz::bar