What are lexical variables in Perl and how do they work?

What are lexical variables in Perl and how do they work?

Lexical variables in Perl are declared using the 'my' keyword. They have a scope limited to the block in which they are defined.

Can you give me an example of how to use lexical variables?

Sure! Here's a simple example:

sub example {
    my $x = 10;  # $x is a lexical variable
    print $x;
}
example();  # This will print 10

What happens if I try to access a lexical variable outside its scope?

If you try to access a lexical variable outside its scope, Perl will throw an error saying that the variable is not defined.

Are there any performance benefits to using lexical variables?

Yes, lexical variables can improve performance because they are more efficient in memory usage and have a faster access time compared to global variables.