my $blah = foo(1, 2); sub foo { my ($var1, $var2) = @_; if ($var2 == 0) { return; } return $var1 + $var2; } # becomes my $blah; SOMEUNIQUELABEL: { my ($var1, $var2) = (1, 2); if ($var2 == 0) { $blah = undef; last SOMEUNIQUELABEL; } $blah = $var1 + $var2; last SOMEUNIQUELABEL; }