#!/usr/bin/perl -l use strict; use warnings; use PadWalker ":all"; sub foo { my $x; for ($x) { my $x; bar(\$_); } } sub bar { print var_name(1, $_[0]); # works my $vars = peek_my(1); print grep $vars->{$_} == $_[0], keys %$vars; # doesn't work unless 2nd my $x is commented out } foo();