my $subname = 'baz'; my $param = { abc => 'xyz' }; # or an object. whatever. eval 'foo->' . "$subname( \$param )"; #### # first, the string that is to be eval'ed is created 'foo->' . "$subname( \$param )" => 'foo->baz( $param )' # then the eval kicks in eval 'foo->baz( $param )' # which is effectively means foo->baz( $param ); # where $param is the ref to a hash #### # suppose we use "$subname( $param )" 'foo->' . "$subname( $param )" => "foo->baz( 'HASHx(....)' )" # where HASHx(...) is the string representation of the # hash ref. this happens because you're interpolating # the hashref within the string end result => foo->baz( 'HASHx( .... )' ); ---- # what if we use "baz( $param )" ? 'foo->' . "baz( $param )" => "foo->baz( 'HASHx(....)' )" # ah, same as the example above end result => foo->baz( 'HASHx( .... )' ); ---- # suppose we use '$subname( $param )' 'foo->' . '$subname( $param )' => 'foo->$subname( $param )' # so no interpolation is done in the first step... foo->$subname( $param ); # ah, but this is perfectly valid!