>perl -MDevel::Peek -e"$_ = 'abcdef'; my $ref = \substr($_, 3, 2); Dump($$ref);" SV = PVLV(0x4d3d24) at 0x2cb29c <--- PVLV REFCNT = 1 FLAGS = (TEMP,GMG,SMG) <--- "get" magic and "set" magic IV = 0 NV = 0 PV = 0 MAGIC = 0x49f09c MG_VIRTUAL = &PL_vtbl_substr <--- Function pointers for magic MG_TYPE = PERL_MAGIC_substr(x) <--- x = substr magic TYPE = x <--- x = substr magic TARGOFF = 3 <--- For "x", start offset of substring TARGLEN = 2 <--- For "x", length of substring TARG = 0x4a8414 <--- For "x", addr of associated scalar ($_) FLAGS = 0 SV = PV(0x2c8a6c) at 0x4a8414 <--- Dump of associated scalar ($_) REFCNT = 2 FLAGS = (POK,pPOK) PV = 0x2cab94 "abcdef"\0 CUR = 6 LEN = 12