If you want a single element, use the arrow notation. If you want a slice, use the slice notation. That's the way it works.

Why? I mean, I can see that this:

$b = [ $a->[1..4]->[11..12] ];
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Would require that 1..4 get evaluated in scalar context, but why would 11..12 also need to be evaluated in scalar context? Why doesn't the last thing in the -> chain inherit the context from the overall chain?
--


@/=map{[/./g]}qw/.h_nJ Xapou cets krht ele_ r_ra/;
map{y/X_/\n /;print}map{pop@$_}@/for@/
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No, you're dereferencing a single element of an array reference. Dereferencing a slice from an array reference would, though.

$ cat wa
sub ctx {
  my $w = wantarray;
  if( defined $w ) {
    print $w ? "array\n" : "scalar\n";
  } else { print "void\n" }
  1;
}

my $a = [ qw( a b c ) ];
$a->[ ctx( ) ];
@{$a}[ ctx( ) ];
$ perl wa
scalar
array
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The [1..4] in list context is used with slices -- it doesn't create a list context on its own. Because you ask for $a->, you're telling Perl to dereference $a to a single element, not a slice, thus 1..4 is interpreted in scalar context.

In the case that works, you're dereferencing $a to an array, and then taking a slice of that -- and because you're slicing, 1..4 gets interpreted in list context.

$a->[1..4];  # not a slice
@{$a}[1..4]; # slice
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