use Devel::Peek qw[ Dump ];; Dump \substr 'fred', 1, 2;; SV = RV(0x78148) at 0x78138 REFCNT = 1 FLAGS = (TEMP,ROK) RV = 0x3d39898 SV = PVLV(0xf3758) at 0x3d39898 REFCNT = 2 FLAGS = (PADMY,GMG,SMG,pPOK) IV = 0 NV = 0 PV = 0x3e5eda8 "re"\0 CUR = 2 LEN = 8 MAGIC = 0x3e75af8 MG_VIRTUAL = &PL_vtbl_substr MG_TYPE = PERL_MAGIC_substr(x) TYPE = x TARGOFF = 1 TARGLEN = 2 TARG = 0x3d39f58 SV = PV(0x3e25950) at 0x3d39f58 REFCNT = 2 FLAGS = (PADTMP,POK,READONLY,pPOK) PV = 0x3e5ece8 "fred"\0 CUR = 4 LEN = 8