use Module VERSION LIST use Module VERSION use Module LIST use Module use VERSION Imports some semantics into the current package from the named module, generally by aliasing certain subroutine or variable names into your package. It is exactly equivalent to BEGIN { require Module; import Module LIST; } except that Module *must* be a bareword. #### If EXPR is a bareword, the require assumes a ".pm" extension and replaces "::" with "/" in the filename for you, to make it easy to load standard modules. This form of loading of modules does not risk altering your namespace. In other words, if you try this: require Foo::Bar; # a splendid bareword The require function will actually look for the "Foo/Bar.pm" file in the directories specified in the @INC array. But if you try this: $class = 'Foo::Bar'; require $class; # $class is not a bareword #or require "Foo::Bar"; # not a bareword because of the "" The require function will look for the "Foo::Bar" file in the @INC array and will complain about not finding "Foo::Bar" there. In this case you can do: eval "require $class";