Scalar values are always named with '$', even when referring to a scalar that is part of an array. It works like the English word ``the''. Thus we have:

    $days               # the simple scalar value "days"
    $days[28]           # the 29th element of array @days
    $days{'Feb'}        # the 'Feb' value from hash %days
    $#days              # the last index of array @days

but entire arrays or array slices are denoted by '@', which works much like the word ``these'' or ``those'':

    @days               # ($days[0], $days[1],... $days[n])
    @days[3,4,5]        # same as @days[3..5]
    @days{'a','c'}      # same as ($days{'a'},$days{'c'})