my ($x, $y, $z) = qw( 1 2 3 );
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List assignment in list context produces a list of lvalues:

(my ($x, $y, $z) = qw( 1 2 3 )) = qw( a b c ); # $x = 'a', $y = 'b', $
+z = 'c'.
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List assignment in scalar context:

print scalar (my ($x, $y, $z) = qw( a b c d ));  # 4
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Modifying a scalar assignment:

($x = 12) =~ s/1/4/; print $x;  # 42
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