#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;

my @results;

(@results = blah('"or1"'))
  || (@results = blah1('"or2"'))
  || (@results = blah('"or3"'));

print join(':',@results)."\n";

sub blah{
  my ($call) = @_;
  print "$call ";
  print wantarray ? "wants array" : "wants string";
  print "\n";
  return;
}

sub blah1{
  my ($call) = @_;
  print "$call ";
  print wantarray ? "wants array" : "wants string";
  print "\n";
  return (1,2,3);
}

__END__

]$ perl wantarr.pl
"or1" wants array
"or2" wants array
1:2:3