BEGIN { sub MyPackg::DBG() { 0; } } our $a = 1; package MyPackg; print 'DEBUGGING' if DBG(); # <-- oops print 'huhu'; #### F:\>perl -MO=Deparse tmp.pl sub MyPackg::DBG () { 0 } sub BEGIN { } our $a = 1; package MyPackg; '???'; print 'huhu'; tmp.pl syntax OK