use Devel::Peek; my $x = 3; Dump $x; fork; Dump $x; __END__ SV = IV(0x90e54bc) at 0x90ca648 REFCNT = 1 FLAGS = (PADBUSY,PADMY,IOK,pIOK) IV = 3 SV = IV(0x90e54bc) at 0x90ca648 REFCNT = 1 FLAGS = (PADBUSY,PADMY,IOK,pIOK) IV = 3 SV = IV(0x90e54bc) at 0x90ca648 REFCNT = 1 FLAGS = (PADBUSY,PADMY,IOK,pIOK) IV = 3 #### use Devel::Peek; my $x = 3; Dump $x; my $y = \$x; Dump $x; __END__ SV = IV(0x97634bc) at 0x9748648 REFCNT = 1 FLAGS = (PADBUSY,PADMY,IOK,pIOK) IV = 3 SV = IV(0x97634bc) at 0x9748648 REFCNT = 2 FLAGS = (PADBUSY,PADMY,IOK,pIOK) IV = 3