--- toke.c.orig 2005-10-18 19:47:57.000000000 +0100
+++ toke.c      2005-10-18 19:48:43.000000000 +0100
@@ -3169,7 +3169,7 @@
        if (PL_expect != XOPERATOR) {
            s = scan_ident(s, PL_bufend, PL_tokenbuf, sizeof PL_tokenbuf, TRUE);
            PL_expect = XOPERATOR;
-           force_ident(PL_tokenbuf, '*');
+           PL_pending_ident = '*';
            if (!*PL_tokenbuf)
                PREREF('*');
            TERM('*');