cat >> test.pl
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
if( "1" eq "2" ) {
    print hello();
}   
sub helloBROKEN {
    print "Hello world\n";
}
----------------------------------
> perl -MO=Deparse test.pl 
test.pl syntax OK
'???';
sub helloBROKEN {
    print "Hello world\n";
}
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You're exactly right about perl not even looking at that if statement.