$ perl -Mstrict -Mwarnings -le ' use constant MYVAR => 3.14159; print MYVAR; use constant PI => 4 * atan2(1, 1); print PI; ' 3.14159 3.14159265358979 #### $ perl -Mstrict -Mwarnings -le ' *myVar = \3.14159; print ${*myVar}; print ${*myVar{SCALAR}}; print $main::myVar; ' 3.14159 3.14159 3.14159