print 'this' . ' ' x $spaces . 'that';

##</code><code>##

print 'this' . ' ' x $n * rand() + theNumberYouFirstThoughOf() . that';

##</code><code>##

perl -we'
print +2-2 . '*' . 2-2 .'='. -4+4-4+4 . '=' 0; 
'
#current perl:
Argument "0*2" isn't numeric in subtraction (-) at -e line 2.
Argument "-2=-4" isn't numeric in addition (+) at -e line 2.
2=0
# proposed would give the integer ops higher precedence and get them
out of the way of the string-combining parts.  Thus:

perl -we'
print +(2-2) . "*". (2-2) . "=" . (-4+4-4+4) . "=". 0 ."\n";
'

0*0=0=0