I have the following class :

package Link;

sub FETCH {
    my $this = shift;
    return $this->{"site"};
}

sub STORE {
    my ($self,$site) = @_;
    $self->{"site"}   = $site;
}

sub print_method {
    my $self = shift;
    print $self->{"site"};
}

sub TIESCALAR {
    my $class = shift;
    my $link  = shift;
    my $this  = {};
    bless($this,$class);
    $this->{"site"} = $link;
    return $this;
}

1;
[download]

and the following code :

use Link;

tie my $var,"Link","http://somesite.com";
$var = "http://anothersite.com";
$var->print_method;
print $var;
[download]

Running the code above results in a runtime error : Can't call method "print_method" without a package or object reference at tietest.pl line 4. . I think I understand why : when fetched , the method returns a string , which doesn't respond to "print_method" . I would like to be able to do the following things : if fetched , print the site's address , if stored , change the address . I would also like to be able to call methods on the object . I am aware that if I return $self from fetch , I will accomplish the "call methods objective" , but that will invalidate the first objective ( fetch ) . Is there a way I could accomplish all of them ?