use IO::Socket ; my $host = "www.example.com" ; my $stream_port = "80" ; $dst_server = IO::Socket::INET->new( Proto => "tcp", PeerAddr => $host, PeerPort => $stream_port) or warn "Error with vars: $@\n"; $dst_server = IO::Socket::INET->new( Proto => "tcp", PeerAddr => "www.example.com", PeerPort => "80") or warn "Error with strings: $@\n";