use O qw' Deparse -p '; print \&reference; # real ref print \&call(1); # ref to return value print \( &call(1) ); # same as above, ref to return print \( call(1) ); # same as above, ref to return __END__ print((\&reference)); print(\(&call(1))); print(\(&call(1))); print(\(call(1))); __DATA__