in effect the difference is subtle and can fade into equivalence, but see it from this point of view: a list is not a Perl data type. Perl has three main variable types: scalars, arrays, and hashes. (perlintro).

In Learning Perl - third edition is stated this way:

> A list is an ordered collection of scalars. An array is a variable that contains a list. In Perl, the two terms are often used as if they're interchangeable. But, to be accurate, the list is the data, and the array is the variable. You can have a list value that isn't in an array, but every array variable holds a list

Sometimes, just to make things more foggy, you can do operations on list in the same way as you do with array:

 print +( qw(J A P H) )[2] prints P

but you cant shift a list and the doc goes: shift ARRAY but for example print accepts a list: print LIST

Another key concept is LIST in respect of context and here it overlaps with array: LIST or SCALAR context: in list context you can assign it to an array, but again, the array is the perl variable and the list is its value.

See also: What is the difference between a list and an array? and Scalars, Lists, and Arrays

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