use strict; use warnings; use HTML::Template::Compiled; my $a = 'test'; my $htc = HTML::Template::Compiled->new( tagstyle => [qw(-classic -comment +asp)], scalarref => \<<'EOT',); <%= a%> <%= a.a%> EOT $htc->param(a => $a); print $htc->output(); __END__ Can't use string ("test") as a HASH ref while "strict refs" in use at (eval 54) line 16.