use constant { zed => 0, one => 1, repos => (qw(oss non-oss debug)), two => 2, }; #### { zed => 0, one => 1, repos => (qw(oss non-oss debug)), two => 2, } #### c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -MData::Dumper -le "print Dumper { zed => 0, one => 1, repos => (qw(oss non-oss debug)), two => 2, }; " $VAR1 = { 'non-oss' => 'debug', 'repos' => 'oss', 'one' => 1, 'zed' => 0, 'two' => 2 }; #### c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le "use constant [ qw(a b c d) ]; " Invalid reference type 'ARRAY' not 'HASH' at -e line 1 BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at -e line 1. c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le "use constant qw(A b c d); print A; " bcd