use warnings; use Inline C => Config => CLEAN_AFTER_BUILD => 0, BUILD_NOISY => 1; use Inline C => <<'EOC'; int testSub(SV * x) { if(!SvROK(x)) croak ("Not a reference"); sv_setpv(SvRV(x), "Hello!;)\n\0"); return 1; } EOC $init = "barbarella"; $test_var = \$init; testSub($test_var); print "$$test_var\n$init\n"; #### Hello!;) Hello!;)