Arnold Daniels points out a quick method for creating what he calls "perl-like temporary variables" in the global scope of a script:
When writing code in the global scope, I often have a problem where I'm overwriting a variable. This happens even more often when I work on code of somebody else. Usually has the variable which does the overwriting is usually just a temporary variable.
His code is a simple few lines that shows how it could be used when trying to write information out to a file handle. Some of the comments on the post criticize his use of the global scope but
Arnold comes back with his reasoning - mostly that there is already code in the global scope and that adding something else is only adding to it, not making things worse.
Arnold Daniels' Blog: Perl like temporary variables in PHP - Read More... 
