my

my 
vars

Declares one or more private variables to exist only within the innermost enclosing block, subroutine, eval , or file. The new value is initially undef for scalars and () for arrays and hashes. If more than one variable is listed, the list must be placed in parentheses, because the operator binds more tightly than a comma. Only simple scalars or complete arrays and hashes may be declared this way. The variable name may not be package-qualified, because package variables are all global, and private variables are not related to any package.

Unlike local , this operator has nothing to do with global variables, other than hiding any other variable of the same name from view within its scope. (A global variable can always be accessed through its package-qualified form or a symbolic reference, however.) A private variable is not visible until the statement after its declaration. Subroutines called from within the scope of such a private variable cannot see the private variable unless the subroutine is also textually declared within the scope of the variable.