##
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";