$x = \substr("blah", 1, 2); $y = \substr("florp", 1, 3); print "$$x $$y\n"; #### sub substrref { \substr($_[0], $_[1], $_[2]) } $x = substrref("blah", 1, 2); $y = substrref("florp", 1, 3); print "$$x $$y\n"; #### sub substrref { eval '\substr($_[0], $_[1], $_[2])' } $x = substrref("blah", 1, 2); $y = substrref("florp", 1, 3); print "$$x $$y\n";