debian man page for vars

vars(3perl)						 Perl Programmers Reference Guide					       vars(3perl)

NAME
       vars - Perl pragma to predeclare global variable names (obsolete)

SYNOPSIS
	   use vars qw($frob @mung %seen);

DESCRIPTION
       NOTE: For variables in the current package, the functionality provided by this pragma has been superseded by "our" declarations, available
       in Perl v5.6.0 or later.  See "our" in perlfunc.

       This will predeclare all the variables whose names are in the list, allowing you to use them under "use strict", and disabling any typo
       warnings.

       Unlike pragmas that affect the $^H hints variable, the "use vars" and "use subs" declarations are not BLOCK-scoped.  They are thus
       effective for the entire file in which they appear.  You may not rescind such declarations with "no vars" or "no subs".

       Packages such as the AutoLoader and SelfLoader that delay loading of subroutines within packages can create problems with package lexicals
       defined using "my()". While the vars pragma cannot duplicate the effect of package lexicals (total transparency outside of the package), it
       can act as an acceptable substitute by pre-declaring global symbols, ensuring their availability to the later-loaded routines.

       See "Pragmatic Modules" in perlmodlib.

perl v5.14.2							    2011-09-19							       vars(3perl)