Declare multiple variables on one line in perl

Question

I found that I can declare two variables in one statement using:

my ($a,$b)=(1,2); 

But I think this syntax may be confusing, for instance, if we had five variables declarations, it would be difficult to see which value belongs to which variable. So I think it would be better if we could use this syntax:

my $a=1, $b=2; 

I wonder, why is this kind of declaration not possible in Perl? And are there any alternatives?

(I am trying to avoid repeating my for each declaration like: my $a=1; my $b=2;)

Answer 1

No. Variables declared by my are only named once the next statement begins. The only way you can assign to the newly created variable is if you assign to the variable it returns. Think of my as new that also declares.

As for your particular code,

my $a=1, $b=2; 

means

((my $a)=1), ($b=2); 

Obviously, no good.

If you had used variables that weren't already declared^[1], you would have gotten a strict error.

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1. $a and $b are predeclared in every namespace to facilitate the use of sort.