"my" variable $x masks earlier declaration in same scope at 585826.pl line 4. "my" variable $x masks earlier declaration in same scope at 585826.pl line 6. print __LINE__ . ": " . \$x . " = $x \n"; my $x = 123; print __LINE__ . ": " . \$x . " = $x \n"; my $x = 456; print __LINE__ . ": " . \$x . " = $x \n"; my $x; print __LINE__ . ": " . \$x . " = $x \n";