>perl -wMstrict -MData::Dumper -le "my @array_names = qw(foo baz); for my $array_name (@array_names) { no strict 'refs'; @$array_name = ( reverse split '', $array_name ); } print Data::Dumper->Dump([\@::foo, \@::baz], [qw(*foo *baz)]); " Name "main::foo" used only once: possible typo at -e line 1. Name "main::baz" used only once: possible typo at -e line 1. @foo = ( 'o', 'o', 'f' ); @baz = ( 'z', 'a', 'b' );