my @array = qw/this that the other/;
local $, = ", ";
print @array[1..$#array], "\n";
__OUTPUT__
that, the, other

##</code><code>##

my $last_item = (this, that, the, other)[-1];

##</code><code>##

my $list = [qw/this that the other/];
local $, = ", ";
print @{$list}[0..$#{$list}];