Well, I'm not totally sure what sets %_ myself, but I have found out that you can use %_.
Just don't 'my' it:

&mySub();

sub mySub{
    my %Defaults = (Name     => 'Russ',
                    Job      => 'Programmer',
                    Language => 'Perl');

    local %_ = (%Defaults, @_); # Warning, this does not compile!

    ###
    #(Now use %_ as my argument list)
    ###
    print "The name is: $_{Name}\n";
}
[download]

That works perfectly fine. It would be intersting to see if there is an internal perl action/method/function that will actually set %_, like it does with $_ and @_;

Any takers?

-- philip
We put the 'K' in kwality!