{ package String; use base 'CORE'; use overload q[bool] => '_deref', q[""] => '_deref', q[0+] => '_deref', fallback => 1, ; sub new { my ($class, $str) = @_; bless \$str => $class; } sub _deref { ${$_[0]}; } } my $greeting = String->new("Hello World\n"); print $greeting->substr(6);