#!/usr/bin/perl use 5.016; use warnings; use Data::Dumper; # pass by ref; return by val my $foo = "abc"; sub subr { my $local_foo = shift; # see Note1, below my $local_deref = $$local_foo; say " In sub, \$local_deref: $local_deref"; $local_deref .= " def"; say "\t And now, after cat, \$local_deref: $local_deref"; return $local_deref; } my $fooref = \$foo; my $result = subr($fooref); say "\t\t Back in main, after subr has returned."; say "\t\t $result"; #### In sub, $local_deref: abc And now, after cat, $local_deref: abc def Back in main, after subr has returned. abc def