i'm looking for the 3-arg equivalent to the open stmt

There isn't one. See BrowserUK's reply.

and how to use a variable for the "<<" stmt. thanks

Put a space before the << 

my $fh = \*STDOUT;
print $fh<<'EOI';    # Fails
abc
EOI

[download]
my $fh = \*STDOUT;
print $fh <<'EOI';   # Works
abc
EOI

[download]

Perl think's you're using the left shift operator with a lexical and no space.

In reply to Re: 3 argument opens with pipes & messages by ikegami
in thread 3 argument opens with pipes & messages by Anonymous Monk

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