With "goatse" it's a list _assignment_ = which in scalar context returns the number of list elements assigned.

I'll have to accept that on faith. Edit: Well, I guess I don't have to take it on faith:

se strict;
use warnings;
use 5.012;

my $x =   () = ('a', 'b', 'c');  
#scalar context on left, a list assignment on right
#Full goatse syntax:  my $x =()= ('a', 'b', 'c'); 

say $x;

--output:--
3
[download]

PS: you replied to yourself twice.

In my opinion, the indenting is a terrible feature. All posts in a thread should be at the same level of indenting--none. If you want to respond to a particular post, you should quote it.