c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -MData::Dump -le "sub func { print qq{hey @_}; } my $symref = 'func'; our $symref = 'func'; ;; my $mainobj = bless []; dd $mainobj; ;; main->$symref('ho'); $mainobj->$symref('there'); ;; &$main::symref('nonny-nonny'); " bless([], "main") hey main ho hey main=ARRAY(0x157618c) there Can't use string ("func") as a subroutine ref while "strict refs" in use at -e line 1. c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -w -MData::Dump -le "sub func { print qq{hey @_}; } my $symref = 'func'; our $symref = 'func'; ;; my $mainobj = bless []; dd $mainobj; ;; main->$symref('ho'); $mainobj->$symref('there'); ;; &$main::symref('nonny-nonny'); " bless([], "main") hey main ho hey main=ARRAY(0x185614c) there hey nonny-nonny