Is the first and the second substitution equivalent if the replacement is passed in a variable?
#!/usr/bin/env perl6
use v6;
my $foo = 'switch';
my $t1 = my $t2 = my $t3 = my $t4 = 'this has a $foo in it';
my $replace = prompt( ':' ); # $0
$t1.=subst( / ( \$ \w+ ) /, $replace );
$t2.=subst( / ( \$ \w+ ) /, { $replace } );
$t3.=subst( / ( \$ \w+ ) /, { $replace.EVAL } );
$t4.=subst( / ( \$ \w+ ) /, { ( $replace.EVAL ).EVAL } );
say "T1 : $t1";
say "T2 : $t2";
say "T3 : $t3";
say "T4 : $t4";
# T1 : this has a $0 in it
# T2 : this has a $0 in it
# T3 : this has a $foo in it
# T4 : this has a switch in it
The only difference between $replace and {$replace} is that the second is a block that returns the value of the variable. It's only adding a level of indirection, but the result is the same.
Update: Edited according to @raiph's comments.