>perl -e '
    sub string_to_struct {
    my $string = shift;

    my @refs = split /__/, $string;
    $string = "\$$refs[0]";
    for (1 .. $#refs) { $string .= "-> {q/$refs[$_]/}" };

    return eval "\\$string";
   }
   print string_to_struct "foo__`rm xxx`";
   '
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just to interject here, on every unix system ive ever used, just typing 'perl return' will allow you to code freely until __END__ or control-d and then execute. no need for the -e '...'

--
transcending "coolness" is what makes us cool.