$a = something; # something is executed in a scalar context.
@a = something; # something is executed in a list context.
something; # something is executed in a void context.
# Arrays return their number of elements in a scalar context:
@b = qw( a b c );
print( @b , "\n"); # abc
print(scalar(@b), "\n"); # 3
# print accepts a list, but scalar() forced scalar context.
# Arithmetic forces scalar context:
print(@b,"\n"); # abc
print(@b."\n"); # 3
# Not just string arithmetic:
print(@b, "\n"); # abc
print(@b+0, "\n"); # 3
# Functions can examine their context:
{
local $, = ", ";
local $\ = "\n";
print( localtime ); # 59, 14, 15, 1, 9, 104, 5, 274, 1
print(scalar(localtime)); # Fri Oct 1 15:05:32 2004
}
# Refer to wantarray in perlfunc.