Is "my" a function in Perl?

Question

I know that my is used to declare a variable local to a block or file. I have always assumed that my is a keyword in Perl. But I was just told that it's actually a function. One of the proofs is that perldoc puts my under the “Functions” section, see http://perldoc.perl.org/functions/my.html.

How does a function do the job of declaring local variables?

Answer 1

my is not a function, it's just clumped together with functions (in perl documentation) because it works like a function.

If you look at perldoc perlfunc, it is saith,

Here are Perl's functions (including things that look like functions, like some keywords and named operators) arranged by category...

then a bit below that

Keywords related to scoping
caller, import, local, my, our, package, state, use

Specifically, note that the word “keyword” was used there instead of “function”

So that implies that you would find some non-functions (e.g. keywords) under Perl functions A-Z

Another way of saying this: if something is listed under “Functions” in perldoc, it is not necessarily a function – it can be a keyword or named operator which acts like a function.