Thanks choroba,

Sorry I wasn't clearer about this, but instead of this kind of thing, which you're suggesting:

(${ $age_ref[0] }, ${ $age_ref[1] }) = (1, 2);
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where I'd have to type out all the variables on the left, I was after something more flexible, i.e. something which can handle any number of variables.  To do this maybe the syntax would have to mention the array (@) itself on the left.

This is a bit (or even a byte) academic now, because LanX's suggestion of DBI's bind_col() seems to be working for me.  However, I'm not against academia, since it may be useful in the future, but if you don't have any quick & easy ideas, feel free to drop this now, because at least my current problem is sorted.