my %constructor= { MSWin32 => sub { FTP::Session::Win32->new( @_ ) }, HPUX => sub { FTP::Session::HPUX->new( @_ ) }, } my $ctor= $constructor{$^O}; die "No constructor for $^O" if ! $ctor; my $session= $ctor->( ... ); # Old Perl requires: $session= &$ctor( ... );