C:\test>perl -E"{my$x=0; sub X{++$x;\$x}} say qq[${X()}${X()}${X()}${X()}${X()}${X()}]" 223456 C:\test>perl -E"{my$x=0; sub X{++$x;\$x}} say qq[${X()} ${X()}${X()}${X()}${X()}${X()}]" 1 23456