First you should realize that localizing vars and localizing array/hash elements work differently. The former uses the package symbol table (and can therefore not be used on 'my' vars, or referenced vars, etc). The latter simply uses the index/name of the element.

Doing local $foo[3] = 'bar' will override element 3 of @foo, regardless of whether @foo is a my-var or not. You can even do it on array refs: local $ref->[3] = 'bar';

What local $foo[3] = 'bar' does, basically, is: 

my $saved_foo_3 = $foo[3];
$foo[3] = 'bar';
# .. rest of the block here ..
$foo[3] = $saved_foo_3;

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except with special provisions to make sure the value is always restored, even if the code dies or whatever.

I hope this makes things a bit more clear

In reply to Re: local element of my() array???? by xmath
in thread local element of my() array???? by Anonymous Monk

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