Using the @_ to reference the parameter
#!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; my $var = 10; print "before: $var\n"; change_var($var); print "after: $var\n"; sub change_var { my($v) = @_; # or: my $v = shift; print "in change_var() before: $v\n"; ++$v; print "in change_var() after: $v\n"; }