or download this
sub f_bad { 'b' =~ /(.*)/; return $_[0]; }
sub f_good1 { my ($var) = @_; 'b' =~ /(.*)/; return $var; }
...
'a' =~ /(.*)/; print f_bad($1), "\n"; # b
'a' =~ /(.*)/; print f_good1($1), "\n"; # a
'a' =~ /(.*)/; print f_good2($1), "\n"; # a