I don't use formats a lot, but i do still use them. I suppose Text::Template or printf/sprintf could do the trick as well, but sometimes formats just are the natural thing to do. Besides, even if no-one else used formats, that would not stop me from using them if it was the right solution. You can still use strict with formats, but you are right about the globals ... however, with proper planning you can still achieve a robust maintainable script that uses formats. I like to declare my format variables with use vars, such as:

use vars qw($foo $bar $baz);
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jeffa

L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)