use 5.010;
use strict;
use warnings;

my @a='abc';
given (@a) {
    when (/abc/  ) { print "abc\n" }
    when (1      ) { print "#\n"   }
    when (['abc']) { print "copy\n" }
    when (\@a    ) { print "self\n" }
}

# copy
[download]

Have a look at the last code in the OP (I updated it 10 minutes after posting)

given(@array) and given(\@array) both produce the same ref in $_, but the smartmatch doesn't work as documented.

While I can understand why to limit given to simple scalars I think the docs should either be updated to reflect this behaviour or it's a bug.

UPDATE: you should add continues to se which clauses are true

my @a=('abc',1);
given (@a) {
    when (/abc/  ) { print "abc\n" ;continue}
    when (1      ) { print "#\n"   ;continue}
    when (['abc',1]) { print "copy\n" ;continue}
    when (\@a    ) { print "self\n" }
}
[download]

OUTPUT

Argument "abc" isn't numeric in smart match at /home/lanx/tmp/ike_give
+n.pl line 9.
#
copy
self
[download]

Cheers Rolf

given(@array) and given(\@array) both produce the same ref in $_

That's fine. ARRAY means array or array ref.

I didn't get a chance to read the thread JavaFan started, but I gotta go for a bit now.