sub foo { my @a = qw(foo bar); @a } 
sub bar { my @a = qw(foo bar); wantarray ? @a : $a[0] } 

my($p) = foo;    # $p eq 'foo'
my $q  = foo;    # $q == 2     (different information)
my($r) = bar;    # $r eq 'foo'
my $s  = bar;    # $s eq 'foo' (same information)