csarid:

Single quotes 'like this' prevent variables from being substituted. You want "double quotes".

Untested example:

my $foo='bar';
print "Foo is $foo\n";
print 'Foo is $foo\n';
[download]

should print:

Foo is bar
Foo is $foo
[download]

...roboticus

Update: I should've mentioned: The term used when a variable is substituted into a string is "interpolation".