print "The time is ",localtime();
printf "\nor do you prefer %s\n\n", scalar localtime();

$a = "1234";
$b = "4321";
print "Hmm '$a' eq reverse '$b'\n" if $a eq reverse $b;
print "But reverse \$b = ", reverse $b;
print "\nWhich is not equal to \$a = ", $a;

# assign a scalar context to reverse
print "\n\nApplying scalar context to reverse\n";
$b = "4321";
$b = reverse $b;
print "Now \$b = '$b', which is reversed\n";
# you can assign scalar context to reverse like this to
$b = "4321";
printf "Here too reverse \$b = '%d'\n", scalar reverse $b;
printf "And also here reverse \$b = '%d'\n", eval reverse $b;