Evaluating strings as variables ?

NodeReaper has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

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Re: Evaluating strings as variables ? by Rich36 (Chaplain) on Apr 17, 2002 at 13:44 UTC
You could try this node from tye - (tye)Re: Interpolating variables from a file. Helped me a great deal with something similiar - I needed to store variable names (i.e. $foo) in a file then interpolate them as variables in the code. Rich36 There's more than one way to screw it up...	[reply]
Re: Evaluating strings as variables ? by Fletch (Bishop) on Apr 17, 2002 at 15:03 UTC
Be aware that if you're not very sure of the source of the values comming back from your database you're treading in dangerous waters. If a malicious entity can get their own values in there somehow, th3y wI11 0wN J00 (especially since it looks like you're subsequently planning on passing values to `system()`). It's better practice to keep your code and data seperate (c.f. `use strict "refs"` :). Perhaps create different modules implementing an interface, and then use data from your database to select from that (limited, controlled) set of modules.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Evaluating strings as variables ? by kappa (Chaplain) on Apr 17, 2002 at 15:12 UTC
You pronounced the keyword: evaluate. Use eval().	[reply]