#!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings; my $ref = sub {print "Hello, world\n"}; $ref->(); &$ref(); # Look ma, I am using strict! __END__ Hello, world Hello, world #### #!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings; sub hello {print "Hello, world\n"}; my $ref = "hello"; $ref->(); __END__ Can't use string ("hello") as a subroutine ref while "strict refs" in use