Yes, a reference is a "symbolic link", to point to the value you need to either use the arrow or typecast it. For example:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;

my $red = 23;

my $also_red = \$red;

${ $also_red } = 12; # typecast to scalar using ${}

print "$red is actually $$also_red"; # this also works
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