$ perl -MO=Deparse -e 'if($var||2) {print "foo"} else {print "bar"}' if ($var or 2) { print 'foo'; } else { print 'bar'; } -e syntax OK $ perl -MO=Deparse -e 'if(2) {print "foo"} else {print "bar"}' do { print 'foo' }; -e syntax OK