Thanks too, I see definitely clarity ahead. The last mile to understanding lists and why there is no dedicated operator to impose list context I will go on my own, since I do not want to suggest newbies, by defending and provoking confusion, more weirdness in the internals of my beloved Perl than there probably is. When I feel the need to impose list context explicitly, I'll consider first wantarray and take one of the expressions in the thread and add a comment on why.

Thanks a lot for your time and wisdom,
-- flowdy