test.pl: use lib qw(.); use base; use strict; my %OID = ( 'myoid' => { 'name' => 'myoid', 'type' => 'string', }, 'myoid2' => { 'name' => 'myoid2', 'type' => 'string2', }, ); my $buh = "myoid"; test($OID{$buh}); base.pm: use Exporter; use strict; no strict 'refs'; use vars qw(@EXPORT @ISA @EXPORT_OK); @EXPORT = qw(test); @ISA = qw(Exporter); my $oid_name; my $oid_type; sub test { my ($in) = @_; foreach my $item (keys %{ $in }) { print "(ITM) -> $item\n"; print "(VAL) -> $in->{$item}\n"; ${ "oid_$item" } = $in->{$item}; } print "oid_name is '$oid_name'\n"; print "oid_type is '$oid_type'\n"; } 1;