long answer: Variable Scoping in Perl: the basics

short answer:

• forget about 'our' and 'local' (for now)
• identify the relevant blocks (= something enclosed in '{ }')
• if you need the variable outside of the block, define it outside

minimalistic example to set a value inside a conditional / loop / block:
(I intentionally used the variable '$value' inside the block to demonstrate 'my'. It is not mandatory, you can also assign directly.)

my $variable;

if (1 == 1) {
  my $value = 'a';
  $variable = $value;
}
else {
  my $value = 'b';
  $variable = $value;
}

# => '$variable' now contains 'a'
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