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I know that the BEGIN block is compiled and executed before the main body of a Perl program. If you're not sure of that just try running the command perl -cw over this: #!/ms/dist/perl5/bin/perl5.8 use strict; use warnings; BEGIN { print "Hello from the BEGIN block\n"; } END { print "Hello from the END block\n"; } I have been taught that early compilation and execution of a BEGIN block lets a programmer ensure that any needed resources are available before the main program is executed. And so I have been using BEGIN blocks to make sure that things like DB connections have been established and are available for use by the main program. Similarly, I use END blocks to ensure that all resources are closed, deleted, terminated, etc. before the program terminates. After a discussion this morning, I am wondering if this the wrong way to look at BEGIN and END blocks. What is the intended role of a BEGIN block in Perl? Update 1: Just found out why the DBI connect didn't work. After being given this little Perl program: use strict; use warnings; my $x = 12; BEGIN { $x = 14; } print "$x\n"; when executed it prints 12. Update 2: Thanks to Eric Strom's comment below this new version makes it clearer: use strict; use warnings; my $x = 12; my $y; BEGIN { $x = 14; print "x => $x\n"; $y = 16; print "y => $y\n"; } print "x => $x\n"; print "y => $y\n"; and the output is x => 14 y => 16 x => 12 y => 16 Once again, thanks Eric!

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