package Foo; our $d; #the only line added sub top { my($fn) = @_; our($d) = ["a", "b"]; printf "Top before %s [%s]\n", $d, join(",", @$d); $fn->($d); printf "Top After %s [%s]\n", $d, join(",", @$d); } package Bar; Foo::top(sub { #our($d) = @_; #removed! printf " Before %s [%s]\n", $d, join(",", @$d); $d = []; printf " After %s [%s]\n", $d, join(",", @$d); }); #### Top before ARRAY(0x1a60b7c) [a,b] Before ARRAY(0x1a60b7c) [a,b] After ARRAY(0x1a60bb8) [] Top After ARRAY(0x1a60bb8) []