You can return from it. Modifications to @_ inside a BEGIN block disappear after leaving the BEGIN block. Also, (caller(0))[3] returns "main::BEGIN" inside BEGIN blocks. 

    # Prints nothing
    BEGIN { @_ = 1 }
    print @_;


    # Prints 1
    BEGIN {
        print 1;
        return;
        print 2;
    }


    # Prints main::BEGIN
    BEGIN { print +(caller(0))[3] }


    # (Un)expectedly, this won't recurse
    BEGIN { &BEGIN }

[download]
I'd say it behaves quite a bit like a subroutine, albeit not completely.

ihb

Read argumentation in its context!

In reply to Re^4: Mini-rant about 'strict' by ihb
in thread Mini-rant about 'strict' by Ovid

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.