Globalness of variables? Functions & subs

Hi PHPers, I noticed that you have to use keyword "global" in front of globla var.- (one declared at the top of a script outside any functions ) in order to access it inside a function. So merely designating a var. global is a little more involved than say Perl or other languages. You actually have to tell PHP that the function is global. I see functions , are there subroutine calls. I guess not. A function acts as a sub when it returns no value . A sub that returns a value is a function. Thanks Dexter