(Instead of blindly down-voting ...) would you please point out my error?   Seeing a negative number tells me nothing, although I am quite used to it by now.   Obviously, the my variable must be declared somewhere, and in addition, it must be set to empty-list or undef (if this is running in a persistent environment such as mod_perl).   It is genuinely my understanding that declaring the variable within one (in-lined) sub, but using it in another, is Not A Good Thing.™   Please explain the error of my ways.

Edit:   Was the source-code revised since the first time I saw it, or is it just that my glasses are dirty?   I don’t think I saw multiple my declarations for the array.   More cof-fee... more cof-fee...

It occurs to me also in re-reading that the my declaration is also the only place where the variable in question is set to empty-list.   Therefore, if the code repeatedly followed another path, the array would continue to grow.   (Although I’d expect that you would be able to see that happening very easily.)

I also don’t see anything in the fragment that was posted that would account for a runaway memory leak.

I really want to know, as any Monk would do, where I went wrong on this comment!   Thanks in advance.