There, $x has a refcount of 2 (from $x and @array), whereas $y has a refcount of only 1.
Jeff japhy Pinyan,
P.L., P.M., P.O.D, X.S.:
Perl,
regex,
and perlhacker How can we ever be the sold short or the cheated, we who for every service have long ago been overpaid? ~~ Meister Eckhart
Comment on Re^3: how do $x = \12 differ from $$y = 12 ?