use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dump qw/pp dd/;
$\="\n";

my @var_list;

use vars (@var_list = qw/$s1 $s2 $s3 @a1 @a2 @a3/);


my %hash = (
    s1 => 1,
    s2 => 2,
    a1 => [1,2,3],
    a2 => [],
);

{
    no strict 'refs';
    for ( @var_list ) {
        my ($sigil,$name) = m/^([\$@])(.*)$/;
        #warn $name;

        if ($sigil eq '@') {
            *{$name} = exists $hash{$name}
                ? $hash{$name}
                : [];
        }

        if ($sigil eq '$') {
            *{$name} = exists $hash{$name}
                ? \ $hash{$name}
                : \ undef
        }
    }
    

}

#  test
for my $var ( @var_list) {
    print "--- $var";
    
    eval "print \"\$var = <$var> isn't false\" if $var";    
}

##</code><code>##

--- $s1
$s1 = <1> isn't false
--- $s2
$s2 = <2> isn't false
--- $s3
--- @a1
@a1 = <1 2 3> isn't false
--- @a2
--- @a3