#!/usr/bin/perl use Data::Dumper; my $test = Test->new; my $a = $test->test; my $b = \$test->test; print Dumper( $test->test ); print Dumper( $a ); print Dumper( $b ); exit 0; package Test; use strict; sub new { return bless {}, shift; } sub test { } 1; __END__ #### $VAR1 = bless( {}, 'Test' ); $VAR1 = undef; $VAR1 = \bless( {}, 'Test' );