#!/usr/bin/perl -w

$seller_state = "CA";
$token = "##ticket_price##";

$rule = "if(##seller_state## eq 'CA'){ ##ticket_price## = 2; }";
token_clean($rule);

eval $rule; warn $@ if $@;

$test_var = token_clean($token);

print "$test_var\n";                            #doesnt work
print "$ticket_price\n";                        #work

sub token_clean(){
  $_[0] =~ s/##(.+?)##/\$$1/g;
  return($_[0]);
}