>perl -wMstrict -le
"my $article = { content => 'FEE FIE FOE FUM' };
 ;;
 print qq{'$article->{content}'};
 my $sr = process_content($article);
 print qq{'$$sr'};
 process_content_some_more($sr);
 print qq{'$$sr'};
 ;;
 sub process_content {
   my ($hashref) = @_;
   (my $processed = $hashref->{content}) =~ s{(\w+)}{\L$1}xmsg;
   return \$processed;
   }
 ;;
 sub process_content_some_more {
   my ($scalarref) = @_;
   $$scalarref =~ s{(\w+)}{\u$1}xmsg;
   }
"
'FEE FIE FOE FUM'
'fee fie foe fum'
'Fee Fie Foe Fum'