For example, you can say use Interpolation money => \&commify_with_dollar_sign, E => 'eval', placename => 'ucwords'; And then you can write these: print "3 + 4 = $E{3+4}"; # Prints ``3 + 4 = 7'' $SALARY = 57500; print "The salary is $money{$SALARY}"; # Prints ``The salary is $57,500.00'' #### use vars qw/$dbh/; use DBI; $dbh = DBI->connect('baz', 'foo', 'bar', 'Oracle'); use Interpolation quoteit => sub { $dbh->quote(@_) }; print "select * from foo where bar = $quoteit{baz}";