perl -e 'print "hello\n" if 1' hello #### perl -e '{print "hello\n"; print "bye\n"} if 1' Execution of -e aborted due to compilation errors. syntax error at -e line 1, near "if 1" #### perl -e '1 ? print "hello1\n" : print "hello2\n" if 1' hello1 #### perl -e '1 ? {print "hello1\n"; print "bye1\n"} : {print "hello2\n"; print "bye2\n"}' syntax error at -e line 1, near "; print" syntax error at -e line 1, near ""bye2\n"}" Execution of -e aborted due to compilation errors.