Aren't we all missing the obvious answer given to us by the compiler?
You just need to use no strict 'refs';. 
...
{
 no stict 'refs';
 for (1..3) {
     my $ref = \${'str'.$_};
     print "The string is $$ref"; 
 }
}
...

[download]
or, as other people suggested, just use a hash.

In reply to Re: Variable Names and References by Sartan
in thread Variable Names and References by chakram88

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