my and local work in any scope...

my $test = 1;
print "$test\n";
{
  my $test = 2;
  print "$test\n";
  test(3);
}
print "$test\n";

sub test {
  my($test) = @_; # parens make list assignment, otherwise you get the
+ count of items in @_
  print "$test\n";
}

#prints...
1
2
3
1
[download]

You can also do something like

while(my $var = shift @ARGV) {
  print "$var\n"; # var is scoped only in the while loop
}
[download]