Nonetheless, a built-in facility or function to ease the process for the disciplined programmer would've been a nice touch. The contortions that we are forced to resort to in its absence betray an obvious deficit in the pragma's original vision. I can't agree that things that "encourage bad habits" are necessarily bad. Let's face it: Perl itself encourages bad habits -- as does any tool with similar power. It's up to the user to wield that power responsibly.