For that matter, let's take a look at uses of the return function. (perldoc -f return)

my $xyz = 15;

my $var = &example($xyz);
print &example($xyz);

sub example {
  my $tmp = shift || 0;
  my $tmp += 49;
  return $tmp
}
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Now, you can set the global $var to by equal to the return value of the subroutine. Also, you can just print the return of the subroutine if you like. return is a very handy tool when it comes to subroutine programming and cleaning up perl code.

-marius