!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings; sub list { return ( "a", "b", "c") } sub array { my @ret = ( "a", "b", "c"); return @ret; } sub ar_as_list{ my @ret = ( "a", "b", "c"); return $ret[-1] unless wantarray; return @ret; } my $a = list(); my $b = array(); my $c = ar_as_list(); print "list >$a<\narray >$b<\nar_as_list >$c<\n"; __DATA__ list >c< array >3< ar_as_list >c<