A small utility routine that I like to use to do this, sinice the need arises so often. Good way to avoid some of the security risks inherent to using eval. Gives you the control of exactly 'what' is allowed to be interpreted.

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
+---------

=pod

=head2  interpolate( scalar, href )

        Purpose : To interpolate an href of vars into a string.

        Usage   : 
                    my $template = q{$name was also know as $alias.};

                    my $variables = 
                    {
                        '$name'     => 'Bob',
                        '$alias'    => 'Big Bad Bob',
                    };
                    
                    interpolate( $template, $variables ); 

=cut

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
+---------
sub interpolate
{
    my ( $text, $variables ) = @_;

    $text =~ s/$_/$variables->{$_}/g for ( keys %$variables );

    return $text;

}
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Wonko