You can do it without symrefs (but it ain't pretty):

DB<3> $q=1
DB<4> eval "\@arr_$q=('eenie','meenie')"
DB<5> x @arr_1
0  'eenie'
1  'meenie'

If you do this, your program may catch fire, burn, and not run under strict... as others have advised you it might happen. Also, why you'd prefer eval other than symrefs is unclear to me.

OTOH, it looks to me that eval is more explicit - if messier - than symrefs... opinions?

Cheers,
alf