$x = $y = "apple";
   "orange" =~ /(.*)(?{$x = $^N; local $y = $^N})/;
   print "$x\n$y\n";
   __END__
   orange
   apple
[download]

If all variables would be automatically localized, it would be hard to pass any information from the regex back to the program.

I can't find something in the documentation that suggests variables are automatically localized.

Abigail