To be more specific, both prints are executing, but the first print executes second, since its entire parameter list must be evaluated before it can print. Part of its argument list is the second print function.

So the 2nd print function executes first. Then the return value of the 2nd print (almost certanly '1') is concatenated to the output of the first print function.

What a mess huh? lol. Don't worry about it, it's easy to fix, and almost nobody is (wo)man enough to use "cat" to write perfect Perl scripts first time around.