note anazawa Athanasius clarified what I wanted to say. Thanks a lot :) By the way, the following is equivalent to the code in question: <code> no strict 'refs'; my $walkable = defined *{ 'walk' }{CODE}; </code> In this case, "no strict refs" is required and it seems reasonable. Should we cosider <code>defined &{ 'walk' }</code> not to be a recommended expression? 988541 988646