#!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; package Foo; sub new { bless {}, shift; } my $bar = sub { return 'Bar!'; }; sub can { my ($self, $method) = @_; return $bar if $method eq 'bar'; return $self->SUPER::can( $method ); } package main; my $foo = Foo->new(); if (UNIVERSAL::can( $foo, 'bar' )) { print "UNIVERSAL thinks Foo can bar\n"; } if (my $bar = $foo->can( 'bar' )) { print "Foo can actually ", $foo->$bar(), "\n"; }