Global vs. Local

ep has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

When I use the following variable assignments...

use strict;

# set some path variables.
  $msagdir = '/stlouis4/msag';
  $tempdir = $msagdir . '/tempfiles';
  $datadir = $msagdir . '/data/SAG_MSAG/';
[download]

I receive the following errors...

Global symbol "$msagdir" requires explicit package name at parse_zip.p
+l line 16.
Global symbol "$tempdir" requires explicit package name at parse_zip.p
+l line 17.
Global symbol "$datadir" requires explicit package name at parse_zip.p
+l line 18.
[download]

Where have I gone wrong and what is the diff. between a global and local variable in a script?

Thanks-
ep

Edit 2001-05-08 by tye

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Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Global vs. Local by azatoth (Curate) on Mar 08, 2001 at 23:43 UTC
Sounds like you need to stick `my` before every variable. when you are using strict (which you always should), variables must be declared this way. Update : Read this on strict before you go any further in your Perl career. It will definitely help you on your way :). HTH Azatoth a.k.a Captain Whiplash Make Your Die Messages Full of Wisdom! Get YOUR PerlMonks Stagename here! Want to speak like a Londoner?	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Re: Global vs. Local by davorg (Chancellor) on Mar 09, 2001 at 14:11 UTC
Sounds like you need to stick my before every variable. when you are using strict (which you always should), variables must be declared this way. <pedant> Well, that's not strictly true. When using `strict` you must either pre-declare variables or use their fully qualified names. You can pre-declare lexical vaiables using `my` or package variables using `use vars`. You can also use `our` if you're using Perl 5.6 or later. You can use package variables without pre-declaring them by giving them a fully-qualified name, e.g. `$main::scalar`, `@main::array` or `%main::hash`. These can also be abbreviated to `$::scalar`, `@::array` and`%::hash`. </pedant> -- <http://www.dave.org.uk> "Perl makes the fun jobs fun and the boring jobs bearable" - me	[reply]
Re: Global vs. Local by arturo (Vicar) on Mar 08, 2001 at 23:51 UTC
The document isn't completely accurate as of this moment, but you might check out (proposed)Scoping tutorial and attendant thread for some background. Philosophy can be made out of anything. Or less -- Jerry A. Fodor	[reply]