perl -MData::Dumper -E 'use constant {A => 1}; my %h = (A => 2); say Dumper \%h' $VAR1 = { 'A' => 2 }; perl -MData::Dumper -E 'use constant {A => 1}; my %h = (A() => 2); say Dumper \%h' $VAR1 = { '1' => 2 };