This is one of the cases where MO::Deparse can help, by showing how perl interpretes your code: 

perl -MO=Deparse -le 'use Time::Piece; $x = localtime; $y = localtime 
+- $x; print $y;'

BEGIN { $/ = "\n"; $\ = "\n"; }
use Time::Piece;
$x = main::localtime();
$y = main::localtime(-$x);
print $y;
-e syntax OK

[download]
localtime - $x is actually interpreted as localtime(-$x)

In reply to Re: Time::Piece, localtime -- ambiguous, parentheses by Eily
in thread Time::Piece, localtime -- ambiguous, parentheses by leszekdubiel

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