You're right, the post-interpolated line should read: *main::scott = "scot2"; Here's what I've been using to test my assumptions:

#!/usr/bin/perl

$test1 = "value of test1";
$test2 = "test1";
$test3 = "Why are you here?";

# refers to *main::test1
print "=>$main::{$test2}<=\n";

print "Original \$test1: ...$test1...\n";

$main::{$test2} = "test3";

# $main::{"test1"} = "test1";
print "\$test1 = >>", $test1, "<<\n";
print "Main package: ", $main::test1, "\n";
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As you can see, $main::{$test2} evaluates to a typeglob. Saying that $main::{$test2} = "test3" changes the scalar is technically incorrect. (Though it is what my previous answer would lead one to believe!)

Dunno where that u came from. Maybe it's a mu?