use Data::Dumper; my ( $ref1, $ref2 ) = ( {}, {} ); my $ref3 = bless $ref1, 'Foo'; # capturing results bless $ref2, 'Foo'; # in void context print Dumper $ref3; print Dumper $ref2; __END__ # results identical: $VAR1 = bless( {}, 'Foo' ); $VAR1 = bless( {}, 'Foo' );