gonzo:/export/home/fredk/docs/test: more foo.pl #!/usr/local/bin/perl use strict; package foo; sub bar { print "Works\n"; } package main; my $var = "bar"; foo->$var; gonzo:/export/home/fredk/docs/test: ./foo.pl syntax error at ./foo.pl line 10, near "$var;" Execution of ./foo.pl aborted due to compilation errors.