sub TIESCALAR { bless \my $o => $_[0] } sub STORE { $_[1] = "Touched by STORE\n" } tie my $a => 'main'; my $b = "Untouched by STORE\n"; $a = $b; print $b; # => Untouched by STORE tied($a)->STORE($b); print $b; # => Touched by STORE