Splits the string EXPR into a list of strings and returns the
               list in list context, or the size of the list in scalar
               context.

Size of list in scalar context.

&& re: limit:

               If LIMIT is omitted (or, equivalently, zero), then it is
               usually treated as if it were instead negative but with the
               exception that trailing empty fields are stripped (empty
               leading fields are always preserved);