My take is that the double-pipe "binary" OR operator is converting your list (the results from the m//) into a scalar, which in this case is 1 for a singular match. The 'or' OR operator does seem to preserve lists in their entirety, not converting them at all.

So, the fix, as mentioned, is:
my ($result) = m[pattern(group)] or "default";
The two OR operators actually behave quite differently, much in the same way that '==' and 'eq' do similar things, but in a different way.

The ?: trick is also valid:
my ($result) = m[pattern(group)]? $1 : "default";
Since in this case, you are evaluating the result of the match explicitly, then returning either $1 or the string. The former, using 'or', is probably the best way to handle this, since ?: is a bit confusing to some.

In reply to Re: Did I match or didn't I? by tadman
in thread Did I match or didn't I? by John M. Dlugosz

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