$dir is a string (aka "toto") and you are trying to use it as a directory handle. How do you expect that to work?

Let me give you a hint.

Create a file called "tst" and run the following snippet without strict on.

my $file = "tst";
open ($file, $file) or die "Cannot read $file: $!";
print <tst>;
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How did a filehandle get opened on the filehandle tst?

Now read what strict 'refs' is supposed to disallow.

UPDATE
Not my link. tye pointed his tutorial out to me and I made the change...