sub foo { 
        wantarray or 
                die "this function is called in list context in all examples"; 
        "alpha", "beta", "gamma"; 
} 
$ret = undef; 
($ret) = $ret || foo(); 
print "parenthetical: $ret\n";
$ret = undef; 
$ret ||= (foo())[0]; 
print "zero: $ret\n";
$ret = undef; 
$ret = (foo())[-1]; 
print "minus one: $ret\n";

##</code><code>##

parenthetical: alpha
zero: alpha
minus one: gamma