"I looks like a function, hence it is a function." That will parse as   (print(ref $result)) ? (join ":", @$result) : "no results"; You need to disambiguate with a +:   print +(ref $result) ? (join ":", @$result) : "no results"; But I don't understand what's wrong with   print ref($result) ? (join ":", @$result) : "no results"; or for that matter,   print ref $result ? (join ":", @$result) : "no results"; either. Since that will actually parse the intended way.