I have just wasted 2 hours tracking down a bug that was caused by this flexibility and have had similar experiences in the past.

In C++ and Java its disallowed/disallowable - presumably cos its considered bad form or more likely to be a typo than genuine code.

Perl is not C++. Perl is not Java. Perl is more like C, and C allows this behavior:

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
   int a = 1;
   {
      int a = 5;
      printf("inside a = %d\n", a);
   }
   printf("outside a = %d\n", a);
}
[download]

Personally, i think you might be wasting your time with this. I am not being mean, but maybe you should have coded this particular program in Java or C++. Use the right tool for the right job, don't change the tool because you may be using it for the wrong job. On another note, anytime i find myself wasting hours hunting down a bug, once i find it, i blame myself. ;)

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)

I search CPAN for lexical and didn't find anything that might do the job. I'm sure it would be possible to write a source code filter for this (but you'll need perl 5.8.0).

----
I wanted to explore how Perl's closures can be manipulated, and ended up creating an object system by accident.
-- Schemer

Note: All code is untested, unless otherwise stated

FYI, I've used source filters in 5.6*

-Lee

"To be civilized is to deny one's nature."